Financial institutions are dealing with increased costs for regulatory burden and compliance. This is causing increased mergers and acquisition activity in an attempt to drive down the costs associated with the additional staff necessary to maintain compliance. Financial institutions are also finding that net interest rate margins are very low based on the federal funds rate. Based on current demand and margin, it’s very difficult to generate the profits of just 10 years ago. Most of the institutions we speak with are experiencing anywhere from a 7% to 12% year over year drop in transactions at their branches. The question then becomes how do we, as a financial institution, make ourselves more profitable in a challenging environment like today’s economy?

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Many financial institutions still implement the use of basic currency counters to help process cash. There are several problems created with that strategy. First, if there is a wrong denomination mixed in with a strap it will be counted as a proper denomination therefore putting the teller out of balance or prolonging the out of balance situation.