Bank One Preliminary Talking ATM Press Release

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This document is the press release about the legal agreement that Bank One signed with Chicago advocates Kelly Pierce and Anna Byrne. Lainey Feingold and Linda Dardarian were the lawyers. No lawsuit was filed. Instead, a formal process known as Structured Negotiation was used. Bank One installed the first Talking ATMs in Ohio and Illinois.

The Bank One Press Release posted here was issued as a result of an initial settlement agreement that Bank One signed with Chicago blind activists Kelly Pierce and Anna Byrne using Structured Negotiations instead of litigation. In the 2001 Bank One Preliminary Settlement Agreement, the bank agreed to install Talking ATMs at 130 locations, making it the first bank with Talking ATMs in Illinois and Ohio. Two years later, the bank signed a comprehensive agreement providing for additional Talking ATMs, an alternative format policy, and an accessible web site. Read the 2003 Bank One Agreement. Bank One was subsequently purchased by Chase Bank, and the accessible banking services initially offered by Bank One were adopted by Chase.


Bank One Installs The First Talking ATMs In Illinois And Ohio

Chicago, Illinois (April 25, 2001) — Bank One Corporation announced today that it has installed the first ‘talking” Automated Teller Machines in Illinois and Ohio to help visually impaired customers complete their banking transactions.

Bank One has installed 30 of the newly developed ATMs in the Chicago and Columbus areas. By the end of the year the bank plans to install 100 additional talking ATMs in these and other markets and will announce the locations once they are operational.

Supporters of expanding access for customers worked closely with the bank and its technical partners to develop the talking ATMs.

“Bank One has demonstrated tremendous leadership in making the commitment to open up options to visually impaired persons,” said Kelly Pierce, a blind Bank One customer and co-founder of Digit Eyes: The Chicago Blind Computer User Network. “We commend Bank One’s support of diversity.”

“This effort reflects our focus on delivering service, convenience and choice to all of our customers,” said Michael Welborn, head of Retail Banking at Bank One.

Ann Byrne, a blind project manager for Exeloncorp in Chicago, stressed the importance of taking advantage of emerging technologies to provide greater independence to the growing number of visually impaired people in the United States.

“These ATMs afford visually impaired people some of the privacy and dignity that is sought by everyone,” Byrne said. ‘Not only will this service benefit people who have been unable to see for years, it will offer the growing population of active, aging people with diminishing eyesight an additional option to their effort to manage their own financial needs.”

Lainey Feingold and Linda Dardarian, California attorneys who have assisted members of the blind community around the country on the talking ATM issue, also praised today’s announcement. ‘We applaud Bank One’s actions and urge other banks to follow their example,” they said.

Customers use a standard set of earphones to receive voice prompts that take them step-by-step through an ATM transaction. The earphones can be obtained from the Bank One banking center locations that feature the new technology. Bank One employees will help users get acquainted with the modified ATMs, and audio users will hear a brief ‘orientation” at the ATM machine.

More information about Bank One’s talking ATM program including the location of Bank One’s Talking ATMs is available by calling 1-877-241-8665.

Bank One Corporation (NYSE: ONE) is the nation’s fifth-largest bank holding company, with assets of more than $270 billion. Bank One offers a full range of financial services to commercial and business customers and consumers. It can be found on the Internet at http://www.bankone.com.

Bank One Talking ATM Locations:

Chicagoland
Chicago Main, 1 Bank One Plaza, Chicago
Michigan Ave, 605 N. Michigan, Chicago
Electronic Banking Center, 60 E. Monroe, Chicago
Elston Plaza, 3227 W. Addison, Chicago
Near North, 1122 N. Clark, Chicago
NW Memorial Hospital, 251 East Huron, Chicago
Walgreen’s, 11 East 75th Street, Chicago
Jeffery Manor, 1910 E 95th Street, Chicago
Ravenswood, 1825 W Lawrence, Chicago
Electronic Banking Center, 717 S Dearborn, Chicago
Berwyn, 6532 Cermack Road, Berwyn
Dominick’s, 325 E. Army Trail Road, Glendale Heights
Evanston Orrington, 1603 Orrington Avenue, Evanston
Mt Prospect Randhurst, 55 East Euclid, Mt. Prospect
Dominick’s, 2575 W Golf Road, Hoffman Estates

Central Ohio
Bethel Sawmill Big Bear, 2700 Bethel Road, Columbus
West Broad, 3100 West Broad, Columbus
Capital Square, 65 East State Street, Columbus
Broad Street, 100 East Broad, Columbus
East Broad, 3200 East Broad, Columbus
University #2, 1894 North High Street, Columbus
Eastland, 2475 South Hamilton, Columbus
German Village, 833 South High Street, Columbus
Gahanna, 130 North Hamilton Rd, Gahanna
Hilliard, 4056 East Main Street, Hilliard
Heath, 30th St & Hebron Road, Heath
East Main, 1730 East Main Street, Lancaster
Newark North, 1212 North 21st Street, Newark
Reynoldsburg, 7112 East Main Street, Reynoldsburg
Westerville South, 77 Huber Village Blvd, Westerville