A rising dragon in the ATM industry

China’s phenomenal economic growth over the past three decades has attracted much attention worldwide.

It has become the second largest economy last year and is now on pace to catch US by 2030, according to World Bank’s chief economist. Today, Chinese companies are embarking towards global activities and have become the world- eading players in the market. 

Huawei, the second-largest supplier of mobile telecommunications equipment worldwide, is one of the most successful Chinese companies today. In the self-service solutions industry, GRGBanking- one of the top companies in the world ATM market, is another example. 

Established in 1999, GRGBanking has grown so much in the last decade. It is now the largest cash processing solution provider in China and ranks 6th in the global market. Its revenue for 2010 amounted to a whopping $262.9 million.

Last year, the company signed two contracts worth $93.17 million with the Bank of China. Moverover, the company made a significant breakthrough in Europe last year, winning a bid to deploy 1,250 H68N cash-recycling ATMs for Ziraat Bankasi, Turkey’s biggest bank. In 2009, World Brand Lab ranked GRG Banking Equipment Co. Ltd. among the top 500 most valuable brands in China. GRG ranked 359th, valuing over RMB 2 billion (U.S. $29 million). 

It is the only company in the financial self-service industry to make the list. Sprinting to catch up In 1999, GRGbanking was established and was deemed a newcomer in the ATM industry. 

There was harsh competition in the market dominated by foreign companies like Diebold, NCR and Wincor Nixdorf. Product quality was the key in order to winthe trust of big state-owned banks in China.

GRGBanking inherits its high quality standards from parent company Gougzhou Radio Group（GRG） which specializes in military communication. A year after its establishment, GRGbanking successfully passed ISO9001: 1994 quality system certification which is a leap towards a new stage of production management. The reliability of the products combined with responsive service established the company’s reputation in the Chinese Banking industry. Contracts from the leading banks in China started to come one after another.

Therefore, GRGbanking not only managed to survive in the severe competition, but also grew rapidly. In 2006, GRG entered in the top 3 Chinese ATM market. In 2007, it was listed on the Stock Exchange Market in China. In 2008, GRGbanking became the largest ATM supplier in China and broke into the global market’s top “GRGBanking’s revenue for 2010 amounted to $262.9 million” 10.

It took less than 10 years for the company to grow into the No.1 ATM brand in China. “GRGBanking’s revenue for 2010 amounted to $262.9 million” Today, GRGbanking’s ATM services have been widely adopted in China’s largest banks such as Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China construction Bank, Bank of Communication, Postal Savings Bank of  China and so on.

At present, GRGBanking is controlling over 22% ATM market share in China--the world ‘s second largest ATM market. An emerging technology leader China has long been regarded as a latecomer in international technology because of its isolation during the socio-economist era of the 50sto 70s.

However, this has changed. China has heavily invested in R&D, with spending growing by 20% per year since 1999 to reach over US$100 billion a year. Having been a licensee of intellectual property rights for a long time, Chinese companies are now trying to create their own technologies and patents. GRGBanking, for example, has already applied more than 153 domestic and international patents by June 2010. Besides, GRGBanking unveiled the first Chinese ATM R&D Academy last November after more than one year of preparation.

The GRG R&D Academy is recognized as a state level financial electronics technology center. It consists of the R&D Center Office, Institute of ATM, Institute of ATM security, Institute of General Research, Institute of Basic Research, Institute of AFC Research, Institute of Software Research and the Test Center. 

In addition to these, the GRG R&D Academy has 1800 technicians and over 400 senior researchers. Moreover, the chief scientist of the ATM R&D Academy is the most prestigious academician, Dai Ruwei. 

This has brought GRG’s current R&D capability to the top level, worldwide. It is now one of the few in the world that has its own IPR of cash processing mechanisms including cashout, cash-in and cash recycling modules.

 “In terms of future, as I explained, cash processing industry is still undeveloped and has big potential, while GRG is pioneer and has good position in the field. I believe with our current business strategy, philosophy and working culture, we will have very bright future.” Mark Yip, the Managing Director of GRGBanking said.