TEHRAN (IRIB News) -- The first domestically designed automated teller machine (ATM) has been manufactured by the Iranian experts.
About 10,000 dollars was spent for the equipment but experts say its price will drop if it is mass-produced.
A number of the Iranian automated teller machine, which is named Sina, has been set up in some banks across the country.
ATM is widely used in Iran, and specifically in Tehran and other metropolitans.
The automated teller machines provide variety of services, ranging from cash payments, which spare customers from long queues, to receiving household and mobile phone bills.
At the same time, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) is said to be planning to link the national ATM system to Southeast Asian countries in cooperation with a Chinese firm.
Alireza Shirani, deputy CBI governor for financial and administrative affairs, said that ATM cards issued in Iran can now be used in Bahrain and visitors from the Arab state can also receive money from Iranian banks using their own ATM cards.
He expressed hope that the national ATM cards would soon become usable in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and other regional countries.
A CBI team is visiting China to hold talks with the Shanghai-based China Union Pay on the project to connect the Iranian ATM system to Southeast Asia.
"Once this project is implemented, Iranians traveling to China, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries can use their ATM cards there," he said.
The government has plans to replace the traditional and lethargic banking system with electronic banking.
The number of ATMs and Point-of-Sale (POS) cards will reach 12 million by the end of the Fourth Economic Development Plan (2005-2010). ATM and POS machines will increase to 4,000 and 60,000 units respectively in the near future.
© Tehran Times 2005
