Euronet Takes on U.S. ATM Outsourcing With Its Dolphin Debit Acquisition

It may be headquartered in suburban Kansas City, but payment-services provider Euronet Worldwide Inc.’s network of 46,070 ATMs operates in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. With today’s announcement that it has acquired ATM outsourcer Dolphin Debit, however, Euronet is gaining a foothold in the U.S. ATM market.

Houston-based Dolphin Debit provides outscoring services to more than 1,900 ATMs for 300 community banks and credit unions. Its menu of services includes equipment ownership, cash management, terminal driving, hardware and software provisioning, maintenance, monitoring, and compliance.

Leawood, Kan.-based Euronet says the acquisition will bring technologically advanced services, including mobile banking, to financial institutions. “ATM outsourcing in the United States historically has been limited to cash dispense and deposit transactions without any advanced processing services available,” Michael J. Brown, Euronet’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. “Euronet can now offer more to these customers with our technical abilities to process any transaction—digital or cash—worldwide. These are the services banks in the U.S. are increasingly being asked for by mobile-savvy customers, and we will be in an excellent position to elevate the technical profile and product portfolio of any bank through our outsourcing services with Dolphin.”

Citing research reports, Euronet said operations of only 6% of bank- and credit-union ATMs currently are outsourced. That leaves “a very big market” for Euronet and Dolphin Debit, a Euronet spokesperson tells Digital Transactions News by email. “Our leading-edge technology allows banks to offer products and services they currently don’t have available. Moreover, the launch of ATM outsourcing complements our other two divisions operating in the United States—epay and money transfer. 

Euronet’s epay segment provides prepaid mobile airtime top-ups and related services in the U.S. and 52 other countries. The money-transfer segment includes Ria and has nearly 400,000 agent locations worldwide. ATM services, which includes 26,000 outsourced machines, are part of the company’s EFT segment. That unit also includes 330,000 point-of-sale terminals deployed across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. “Euronet’s vast resources and superior technology were important factors in our decision to find the right partner to further grow our existing business while enabling us to continue to provide exceptional service and new innovations for our current customers,” Dolphin Debit chief executive Gary Walston said in a statement. Walston will remain Dolphin Debit’s CEO.