Shazam still growing in Iowa

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Six months after a court ordered Iowa to allow financial institutions with ATMs in the state to charge ATM fees to users who are not customers, Shazam’s Privileged Status network, whose members do not charge the fees, continues to grow, according to a story in the Cedar Rapid’s Gazette. Fully a third of the state’s over 3,100 ATMs are now part of the fee-free network, the paper reported. Customers of financial institutions in the network can use each others’ ATMs without charge. Member institutions include many community banks, credit unions and thrifts that do not have extensive ATM networks. The March court ruling had the potential to place them at a competitive disadvantage to large interstate banks, which have the largest ATM networks. Virtually all of the largest locally based financial institutions are Privileged Status network members, the paper reported. The network has about 36 ATMs in Iowa City, and about 24 in Cedar Rapids, where large interstate banks have a greater share of the market. The network anticipates even more growth as it manages to address technical issues preventing some financial institutions from joining, the paper added.