The first in a planned wave of new “super-ATMs” allowing customers of multiple banks to make cash deposits and free withdrawals have opened for business.
Described as a UK industry first, major high street banks have worked together to install “multi-bank deposit ATMs” that could offer a lifeline for residents and small businesses in areas that have in some cases lost all their bank branches.
The first machines are up and running in three locations: the market towns of Atherstone in Warwickshire and Heathfield in East Sussex, and the seaside town of Swanage in Dorset.
More than a dozen additional communities will soon get their own deposit ATM, according to Cash Access UK, an organisation established to protect nationwide access to cash. The aim is to have more than 100 in place across the country by the end of the year.
The ATMs will typically be located in supermarkets and other easily accessible locations – for example, the ATM in Atherstone has been installed in the local Co-op store.
The machines offer free cash deposits to customers of Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Halifax, Lloyds, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank, with more banks due to be added “soon”. They also offer services such as cash withdrawals, balance inquiries and pin management to customers of all major banks, with no fee to pay.
The decline of the bank branch network has left many communities without vital services – in particular the ability for some shopkeepers and small business owners to deposit their takings without having to close early or travel for miles to the nearest bank branch.
Last month, the consumer group Which? said the total number of UK bank branches that had shut their doors for good over the last nine years had passed 6,000. It added that by the end of this year, the pace of closures may leave 33 parliamentary constituencies – including two in London – without a single branch.
Cash remained “an important part of the payments mix” for many small businesses and their customers, said Martin McTague, national chair of the Federation of Small Businesses.
He added: “The ability to deposit in a super-ATM that works for multiple banks is an important innovation, and could make a real difference alongside the accelerated rollout of banking hubs and maintenance of Post Office counters.”
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Banking hubs operate in a similar way to a standard branch, with a counter service run by Post Office staff where customers of almost any bank can withdraw and deposit cash, make bill payments and carry out regular transactions.
The new machines are connected to the Link network and have been set up in partnership with the ATM providers NCR Atleos and NoteMachine.
The banking trade body UK Finance has said that changes in customer habits – with increasing numbers going online, using mobile banking and going cash-free – meant banks “had to make difficult decisions about maintaining their branches”.
Gareth Oakley, the chief executive of Cash Access UK, said that access to deposit-taking ATMs was vital for cash-reliant UK consumers struggling to access basic banking services, adding: “It’s just as important that businesses who accept cash can bank it, too.”