The True Cost of ATM Downtime (And How to Avoid It)

ATM downtime costs banks and financial institutions more than just lost transaction fees. It impacts revenue, damages customer relationships and can even lead to regulatory penalties. By understanding the root causes of downtime and adopting a proactive, tech-enabled maintenance strategy, banks can significantly improve ATM reliability and protect their bottom line.  

Downtime is costing banks more than they realize 

When an ATM goes down, the immediate ATM downtime cost and financial impact is clear: lost transaction fees and potential losses to competitors. Revenue losses of US$37M account for nearly a quarter of downtime-related expenses, not including regulatory fines or legal fees. 

However, there is also the longer-term damage to consider, affecting a bank or financial institution's operations and reputation. A consistently unavailable ATM damages customer trust and satisfaction, particularly for those who rely on cash on a daily basis. Customer loyalty is a fragile asset and customers may quickly decide to switch to a competitor with a more reliable ATM network.  

Unplanned outages also create a strain on business operations, diverting staff from other critical tasks and increasing operational costs. For financial institutions managing ATMs for other networks, frequent downtime can also trigger penalties based on Service Level Agreements (SLAs), directly impacting profitability.  

What causes ATM downtime in 2025? 

While a variety of factors can contribute to ATM downtime, many of the most persistent issues stem directly from maintenance failures, slow response times and legacy network infrastructure. 

• Hardware and maintenance issues: The most common ATM maintenance issues are caused by hardware failures and parts degradation. Components like cash dispensers and card readers are subject to wear and tear, leading to faults such as paper jams or communication errors. This is compounded by a slow or inefficient response from maintenance providers, which can extend downtime for hours or even days. 

• Cash shortages: Insufficient cash management or a delayed restock can lead to an ATM being out of service. As part of Brink’s ATM Managed Services, Brink’s AI-enabled ATM cash forecasting solution is specifically designed to maximize cash availability and improve liquidity, while reducing idle cash. 

• Physical attacks: According to the CFCA’s Global Fraud Loss Survey 2023, there were over 18,000 physical attacks on ATMs globally in 2023. Criminal attacks that damage or destroy an ATM not only cause financial loss but also require extensive repair work, leading to significant downtime. 

• Legacy software and cyber threats: ATMs running on older, unsupported software become a prime target for cyberattacks as they no longer receive critical security updates. Criminals are increasingly sophisticated, using malware, DDoS attacks and jackpotting to disrupt services and steal cash. The global CrowdStrike tech outage in July 2024 serves as a powerful example of how a single software malfunction within a vendor’s system or a bank’s own legacy IT infrastructure can trigger a widespread outage. It is estimated to have caused a staggering $10B in financial damage worldwide, affecting banks and other critical services. 

Brink's AMS’ approach to uptime-first maintenance 

Brink’s ATM Managed Services help banks and financial institutions avoid unplanned outages by moving beyond traditional, reactive maintenance. Our strategy focuses on proactive, tech-enabled maintenance to maximize ATM reliability and uptime.  Instead of waiting for a component to fail, we use a predictive maintenance model, incorporating advanced data analytics and machine learning to anticipate potential issues before they impact the network.  

The Brink’s Insight Center, a comprehensive monitoring software, provides 24/7 real-time performance tracking and immediate alerts for everything from cash jams to complex hardware errors. Our teams can act the moment a problem emerges, often resolving it remotely or dispatching a technician with the correct parts before it leads to a complete outage.  

Brink’s maintenance service includes a comprehensive suite of first-line maintenance (FLM) and second-line (SLM) maintenance to address both common and complex issues. Our first-line maintenance (FLM) services handle simple malfunctions like cash or paper jams, while our second-line maintenance (SLM) services use highly skilled technicians for in-depth diagnostics and long-term fixes.. 

Brink’s engineers are highly trained with multi-vendor expertise, enabling them to service all major ATM brands. Each vehicle is stocked with the necessary tools and a large supply of critical parts, which helps us achieve high first-time fix rates, avoiding follow-up visits.  

Case study: How a regional bank cut downtime with Brink’s 

Brink's successfully expanded its maintenance contract with Geldmaat, taking over all second-line maintenance for 1,700 ATMs. Thanks to the collaborative and efficient work of the Brink’s and TestLink teams, the implementation was achieved in just six weeks. 

By equipping Brink's field engineers with a comprehensive inventory of quality parts, TestLink designed an inventory of full ‘seed stock’ of 549 modules specifically for Geldmaat’s ATM estate, and also developed a specialized van kit for the 40 Brink’s field engineers, comprising of 26,149 components.  

Brink's improved the availability of ATMs with both withdrawal and deposit functions by nearly 7% and resolved a backlog of 300 maintenance call outs within eight weeks, averaging 40 call outs per week. Impressed with Brink's performance, Geldmaat plans to add over 900 more ATMs to the contract, bringing the total to 2,600 devices, fully maintained by Brink’s engineers. 

“Brink’s is all about operational performance. Combined with the skills and knowledge of our engineering team, partnering with TestLink, our objective is customer satisfaction. If we say we’ll fix a machine in four hours, we commit to it. We have a skilled and enthusiastic team, all working towards our common goal of keeping cash available, affordable and secure while making our customers and their customers happy.”  

- Richard van Eijndt, Manager for Secure Engineering, Brink’s Solutions Netherlands 

Get ahead of downtime before it hits your bottom line 

Managing ATM maintenance issues requires a proactive strategy. Unplanned outages erode revenue, damage brand reputation and create unnecessary operational headaches; but these problems are largely avoidable. 

By choosing a proactive, tech-enabled partner, banks and financial institutions can transform their ATM network into a reliable, efficient asset.  Brink’s AMS provides a complete solution that goes beyond basic ATM repair services. Our fully outsourced ATM services are built on foresight and data-driven insights, ensuring that your ATMs are available when your customers need them most.  

Don't let unplanned outages affect your bottom line. To find out more about Brink’s ATM Managed Services, speak to one of our global experts today.