Beware the Ides of March, Maybe?

If you’re still scrambling to comply with the 2010 American with Disabilities Act update requiring ATMs to be handicap accessible, you are not alone.  A Wall Street Journal article by Robin Sidel articulates that many banks are simply at the mercy of their ATM vendors and are not going to be ready by the March 15th deadline.

This whole issue helps illustrate one reason an annual update to your IT Strategy is a good idea.

Though the primary cause of banks not being ready is the order backlogs, banks that actively work a strategy document can show a paper trail demonstrating why it’s March 15th, 2012, and they are still not compliant.

Way back a year ago, those banks who are indeed actively managing a documented strategy inserted into their 2011 IT Strategy an update to their ATMs.  The tactical plan included documentation that they would investigate cost and priority issues.  Then, throughout 2001, reports on progress showed that the advent of wireless banking, the June 2011 Supplement to the October 2005 Authentication Guidance, and budgetary issues made the already difficult task of upgrading our ATMs more difficult.  From a risk perspective, these banks could demonstrate that though they were working with their vendors, there were bigger fish to fry.

Some banks are considering the overhaul of their ATMs to be “an undue burden,” which the updated ADA would allow as an excuse for non-compliance.  For example, BB&T is taking this route because they have over 2000 ATMs to address.

If undue burden is going to be your claim, that’s fine.  But you should have documented the claim long ago, and you would still be wise to show a paper trail that demonstrates ATM upgrades were in your strategy, and that the “surprise” of other higher priority projects (such as the June 2011 Authentication Supplement) took precedence.

As far as the legal threats we’ve been hearing about . . . . . we will soon find the answer to the question:  Are ambulance-chasers becoming ATM-chasers?

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Dan Hadaway CRISC, CISA, CISM
Founder and President, Infotex

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“Dan’s New Leaf” is a “fun blog to inspire thought in the area of IT Governance.”