OREANDA-NEWS.  September 28, 2012. The Citadele Bank is working this year on improving and expanding its network of ATMs in Latvia. By the end of the year, the bank will be installing ATMs in new locations in Riga and elsewhere in Latvia, and it will also replace several ATMs which only offer withdrawal of money with ones which also accept deposits, reported the press-centre of Citadele Bank.

“Our focus is always on making sure that Citadele services are as available as possible for clients, and that is why we are making substantial investments in expanding and improving our network of ATMs all over Latvia this year,” says Citadele board member Kaspars Cikmacs. “Among other things, we will be continuing to replace withdrawal ATMs with deposit/withdrawal ones.”

Cikmacs adds that “the placement of ATMs is based on traffic flow in various locations and on the needs of clients at each specific place. In places such as shopping centres, where traffic is most intense, we’re replacing ATMs for deposit/withdrawal ones, because the deposit of cash into accounts has been a service that is in much demand at the Client Service Centres which are at shopping centres. Our hope is that clients will be able to deposit money more quickly and easily by using ATMs for that purpose.”

“Recently we’ve installed new deposit/withdrawal ATMs at the Stockmann department store, the Dole, Spice, Alfa, and Domina shopping centres, and the Maxima XX store at Rigas Street 11A in Jelgava,” says Inga Mikne, director of the Citadele Bank’s Property Management and ATM Administration Department. “We’ve also installed new withdrawal ATMs at the Elefant hotel and the vegetable and meat pavilions of the Riga Central Market.”

“By the end of the year we’ll be increasing the number of ATMs, including ones with a deposit function,” Mikne continues. “The ATMs will be installed in Riga, other larger towns in Latvia, and in towns where there have been no Citadele ATMs in the past. We are making sure that the ATMs are being installed in those places where clients will find that they can withdraw or deposit cash or pay their bills in as convenient, secure and rapid way as possible.”

Cikmacs says that “the amount of money deposited at Citadele ATMs this year has increased substantially in comparison to the same period last year. One reason is that people use the services of several banks, using one to receive wages, for instance, but using another bank’s payment card more actively for shopping purposes. Citadele, for instance, offers payment cards which allow people to receive discounts, cash back for purchases, or points for every purchase that can be traded for gift certificates at various retail locations.”

There are 150 Citadele ATMs at this time, including 23 at which cash can be deposited. Citadele’s network of friendly ATMs includes 410 machines throughout Latvia.

All Citadele ATMs can be used to pay bills without any commission fee. Deposit of cash without a commission fee is possible for clients of Citadele and the Nordea Bank. Cash withdrawals via the use of Citadele payment cards are possible not just at Citadele ATMs, but also, on the basis of the same rules, at the ATMs of the Mortgage Bank, the GE Money Bank, and the Nordea Bank.