Plan to shut free-to-use cash machines could lead to ‘ATM deserts’ in UK
No prizes for guessing where the ATM deserts trailed here are most likely to crop up! This article tells us:
One in five of the 55,000 free-to-use cash machines in the UK could be at risk of closure after proposals were announced to change the way the ATM network operates.
Concerns arose after Link, which runs the network, announced a month-long consultation on cutting the fees that the 38 members of the network pay each other when customers take out cash.
The industry lobby group, the ATM Industry Association, calculated that at least 10,000 free-to-use cash machines could be at risk – almost one in five of the 55,000 ATMs at which customers can withdraw cash without incurring fees.
Ron Delnevo, executive director for Europe of the ATMIA, said: “Make no mistake, this may well lead to a vast reduction in free access to cash for British citizens and businesses.
“Any money saved by a tiny number of banks, which some estimates put at tens of millions of pounds each year, will effectively be at the expense of already hard-pressed consumers.”
He warned that “ATM deserts” would be created across the UK as providers shut unprofitable machines in deprived areas.