Citing losses of over $220 million during the past four months, CityThird of Newark, New Jersey, has launched a new initiative to help it regain profitability. Starting May 1, customers making a cash withdrawal at any of the bank’s 4,500 ATM machines will have exactly five seconds to grab the money – or the machine will suck it back in, and the bank will keep it.
Customers were informed of this policy change on March 1.
“Under New Jersey banking laws we were not required to make this notification,” wrote Thomas Pillington,” the bank’s Chief Information Disseminator. “We took the time and incurred the paper and postage expense because we have always gone the extra mile for our clients.”
Before undertaking the initiative, CityThird had already instituted these measures:
- A charge of $1600 for each 50 checks ordered, $2200 if they include an illustration of waterfowl
- An annual fee of $2500 to ensure that the customer’s account number is not “inadvertently” published on the dark web
- Elimination of the rubber floor mats designed to prevent slips and falls in 220 branch lobbies. (According to researchers hired by the bank, if people are going to fall they’re going to fall.)
While CityThird would not estimate how much it expects to earn from the new policy, banking analyst Louis Fillsup of the Mashling Insitute estimates it wil be at least $23 million for the first two years.
“And that will only increase in subsequent years, “he says, “as the bank’s client base ages and their reflexes slow down.”
