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- Digital wallet spend in Europe & North America to increase by 40% in 2019, finds study
- Juniper forecasts mobile money transactions will exceed 200 billion by 2024
- Europe’s big bank problem: too much capital is trapped in the US, says Scope
- Banks can save the world from climate change, says former UN climate chief
- Research by NatWest reveals gender divide over attitudes to saving
- Later-Life lending market set to almost double in the next 10 years, finds report
- Barclays/Cebr report challenges nation to think differently about wealth
- Fifth of UK investors looking to debt investment, new research reveals
- Regtech will play a more important role in PSD2, says Mitek
- Banks turn to Fintech partnerships to improve customer experience, finds Fraedom
- New industry code to tackle fraud must deliver, says Which?
- New TTF report highlights loss of trust in financial services
- Arxan highlights financial app vulnerability epidemic
- SAS asks whether banks really need to choose between operations and innovation
- Which? raises alarm as almost 1,700 free ATMs become fee-charging
- Financial wellness affects half of peoples’ mental or physical health, finds report
- Study finds traditional financial institutions embrace Fintech disruption
- Grass is greener for environmentally friendly businesses, finds Barclays
- Prospective homeowners would consider a 40-year mortgage to escape renting, finds Santander
- Millennials’ needs are changing the face of banking industry, says new report
- FS is putting consumer data at risk by failing to protect mobile apps, says Arxan
- A lack of belief in their ability holds 28% women back in work, says Cambridge & Counties
- ‘Which?’ reveals Scotland has lost over a third of its bank branches in eight years
- Next downturn unlikely to be as bad as 2008, according to S&P
- FCA reveals findings from first cryptoassets consumer research
- US consumers favour single mobile app for banking and payments
- Banks suffering major IT shutdowns every day, ‘Which?’ reveals
- The US will be a key offshore centre in 2019, says GlobalData
- Debit industry changes markedly in 10 years of the Debit Issuer Study
- UK's ‘Big Five’ face ‘too big to compete’ as small challengers secure stellar returns
- Banks as vulnerable now as before crash, says new study
- Leverage ratio a constant conundrum for European and US banks, says SNL
3rd May 2019
Which? raises alarm as almost 1,700 free ATMs become fee-charging
Trend
Britain’s free-to-use ATM network is on course to be decimated in the coming months unless urgent action is taken to protect access to cash, new research from Which? reveals. New figures obtained by the consumer champion show fees of at least 95p per withdrawal were imposed on 1,700 machines between January and March this year.
The figures show the rate of machines being converted to charge fees appears to be on the rise – with a staggering 1,250 (74 per cent) of these conversions taking place in March alone. Most of the ATMs affected are operated by Cardtronics – the UK’s biggest cashpoint operator – which has warned it is likely to convert a further thousand machines to charge fees in the coming months.
Notemachine, another major cashpoint provider, has warned it is considering converting up to 4,000 machines in its 7,000-strong network to charge fees due to changes in how Britain’s biggest network of ATMs is funded. If these plans go ahead, Britain stands to lose more than 13 per cent of its free cashpoints in a matter of months.
These rapid changes – which have also seen thousands of cashpoints closed – are stripping communities of the ability to get free access to their own money. Which? is concerned that the cost of cash withdrawals has been shifted from banks to consumers, with poor and vulnerable people – who are most reliant on cash to pay for goods and services – hardest hit by the change.
When the consumer champion asked supporters how much they were being charged per withdrawal, 22.55 per cent said they were having to pay between £1.50 to £1.99, 50.65 per cent of respondents said they faced fees of between 50p to 99p. Meanwhile, 83.69 per cent of respondents said they would no longer use a cashpoint that had converted to fee-charging, meaning consumers face having to travel further to their nearest free cashpoint or being forced to find alternatives.
While digital payments are on the rise in the UK, there is still real appetite across the UK for access to cash, with 2.2 million people almost entirely reliant on cash in their daily lives. Which? is warning that without regulatory action the UK risks drifting into a no-cash society that could shut people out of paying for local goods and services.
The consumer champion is calling on Government to appoint a regulator to protect consumers and businesses alike from these rapid changes and properly manage the cash landscape to ensure no-one is denied their ability to access cash.
Gareth Shaw, Head of Money, Which?, said: “Communities are being stripped of free access to cash at an alarming rate that could hit the most vulnerable in our society the hardest, while denying millions of people free withdrawals.
“A regulator is desperately needed to get a grip of these rapid changes across the cash landscape and ensure all those still reliant on this important payment method aren’t suddenly shut out from accessing the cash they need in their daily lives.”
