“We are proud of the service and unique products that we have delivered to 7-Eleven since 2007,” Cardtronics CEO Steve Rathgaber said. “While we are disappointed in this decision, we have every confidence in our business and the robust growth opportunities ahead of us. We will continue delivering service to 7-Eleven for the next two years while executing our growth strategies.”

Cardtronics Director of Public Relations Nick Pappathopoulos confirmed that 7-Eleven had made the move, but declined to answer questions about what might happen next.

“What exactly will happen in 2017…one could only speculate at this point and we're not going to do that,” Pappathopoulos wrote in an email. “As Cardtronics CEO Rathgaber said in yesterday's news release, right now we will continue delivering ATM service to 7-Eleven and we have every confidence in our business and the robust growth opportunities ahead of us. For the time being, that is all we have to say on the matter.”

Seven Bank, the Japanese owner of 7-Eleven Inc.'s new ATM deployer – the Los Angeles-based Financial Consulting and Trade International – reported in a release that FCTI would take over 7-Eleven, Inc.'s ATM business because both FCTI and 7-Eleven, Inc. are owned by the same Japanese firm.

“Under such circumstances, it has been decided that FCTI will enter into an ATM placement agreement with 7-Eleven, Inc.,” the company wrote in its July 7 release. “(U)nder which, from July 2017, FCTI will basically be able to install and operate ATMs on an exclusive basis at the 7-Eleven stores located in the U.S. which are operated by 7-Eleven, Inc.,” the company concluded.

According to its website, 7-Eleven operated 1,400 of the total 7,800 7-Eleven branded stores in the U.S. and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd in November 2005. That company also owned 45.8% of Seven Bank, according to the release.

Reactions to the decision have varied.

The Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.-based CO-OP Financial Services told client credit unions that 7-Eleven, Inc.'s decision will directly affect its current arrangement with the company to obtain surcharge-free ATM access for their members, but sought to reassure them that it was working to preserve that access.

“It is CO-OP's intention to establish a formal relationship with the new 7-Eleven ATM processor as soon as possible to begin the planning process to provide credit union members uninterrupted access to ATMs in these locations,” the payments CUSO wrote to client credit unions in an email on July 8. “CO-OP will also work to continue deposit taking and shared branch access.”

CO-OP Senior Manager for Public Relations Bill Prichard said the CUSO had about 8,000 ATMs in 7-Eleven stores, including franchises and stores operated by 7-Eleven, Inc. He also said CO-OP had already become familiar with the new deployer, FCTI.

“CO-OP has had a relationship with FCTI for many years,” he said. “There is strong interest by all parties involved to continue uninterrupted access to ATMs in these locations.”

Credit union league and payment network executives noted that while surcharge-free access to ATMs remain a key element of credit union marketing, credit unions have ways to access surcharge-free ATMs other than through Allpoint.

“The bottom line is that we are ready [to address the change],” Mansel Guerry, president/CEO of CU24, said. The Tallahassee, Fla.-based payment network has a relationship with Allpoint that allows participating CU24 credit unions to choose to access surcharge-free ATMs either through Allpoint or through CUHere, the network's reciprocal surcharge-free alliance.

“What I have found since I have been here for the last two and a half years is that our sweet spot has been with smaller to medium sized credit unions,” Guerry said. “They are net ATM issuers, not deployers, and they need wide ATM access to remain competitive. That's what we help them do.”

Guerry went on to describe the payments industry as being like a town on the San Andreas Fault, where the market frequently shakes – and sometimes destroys – established relationships and institutions. He said the payments network has learned to routinely search for additional ways to get credit unions the access they need to cope with the pace of change. He noted, for example, that CU24 also has a relationship with Publix that allows its members to obtain surcharge-free access at the large grocery store chain.

In addition, two of the credit union trade groups that Allpoint listed on its website as partners revealed that they partnered with Allpoint through an agreement brokered by an organization called the Mid-Atlantic Regional Services Corp., and that the MARS agreement had ended at the close of 2014.

“It was an agreement that we joined a few years back to help market Allpoint to credit unions in Pennsylvania,” Michael Wishnow, the Pennsylvania Credit Union Association's senior vice president of communications, said. “But it ended at the close of 2014 by mutual agreement.”

The PCUA, Delaware Credit Union League, Maryland and DC Credit Union Association and New Jersey Credit Union League all became Allpoint partners through the agreement that, he said, had not done very much in Pennsylvania with the 7-Eleven arrangement.

“Allpoint didn't catch on through 7-Elevens in the western part of the state because they don't have many 7-Elevens there,” Wishnow said. “Likewise, there aren't as many 7-Elevens in the eastern part because we have other convenience store chains, such as WaWa, as competitors.”

Likewise, Delaware Credit Union League Executive Vice President Jane Bailey said Allpoint had not made many inroads through 7-Elevens for her credit unions because there were not many 7-Elevens there.

She stressed, however, that Allpoint ATMs could be found through other locations and that surcharge-free access remained important to credit unions in Delaware.

“Surcharge-free ATMs is a member benefit for credit unions of all sizes,” Bailey wrote in an email. “MARS had negotiated a great deal with Allpoint (fee-wise), which allowed some of our smaller credit unions to participate. In addition, in Delaware, the credit unions of the league's former DELCU Financial ATM CUSO still have an agreement not to surcharge each others' members.”