Standard Chartered Bank said on Tuesday that it has joined the National Financial Switch-shared ATM network, the first international bank to do so.

This will allow the bank's customers to access funds from virtually any city or town in the country.

This facility will be available to customers at no additional cost.

The NFS is India's largest domestic network with over 30,000 ATMs across the country and Standard Chartered's customers will now have wider coverage of ATMs available to them.

"This is yet another first for Standard Chartered Bank. . .this is in line with our vision of being India's leading international bank," the bank's general manager, transaction banking and strategic initiatives, CDK Sai Narain, said.

The NFS was set up by the Institute of Development and Research in Banking Technology and promoted by the Reserve Bank of India [Get Quote].

The system aims to connect all banks to a common switch, thus allowing sharing of services offered through remote channels such as ATMs.

This enables banks to offer these services to customers in areas where they do not have a presence in a cost-efficient manner, the release said.