Will ATMs (ATMs or ATMs or vending machines) soon experience a fate comparable to that of phone booths – which the under-30s have never known (although the last one was only dismantled in 2019) – and in part because of the same reason, the use of mobile phones?
As far as bank branches are concerned, today there is no longer a real debate: new presences, new formats and a strong restriction on their number are essential. However, operating without physical touchpoints and without the brand aura of brands remains a challenge and will undoubtedly remain so for the next ten years for banks, some of which, among the largest, are far from have abandoned their branch networks.
But automata? The phenomenon is rarely seen but its closures are accelerating. Especially in Anglo-Saxon countries: in Australia, since 2020, 460 branches have been closed and 3,800 ATMs have been dismantled. In China, where mobile has become much more widespread than in the West for payments, ATMs are disappearing with a vengeance (there were 3.28 million at their peak in 2017); as in India, where we rely on the virtual disappearance of cash.
France has fewer ATMs: there are 107 for every 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 164 in Australia or 131 in the United Kingdom. However, they were 58,586 at their peak in 2012, fewer than red lights but more than bus stops. There are only 47,853 at the end of 2021 and fairly well distributed throughout the territory, according to the latest count made by the Banque de France. However, their numbers continue to decline. The health crisis has also dealt a kind of blow to couriers: cash withdrawals fell by 15% in 2020, while with the rise in caps, contactless payments increased by 86%.
Many unprofitable dealers
But the crisis has only accentuated a fundamental reality. If there are on average 2120 users per automaton, many are less than 1200; therefore, many ATMs are not profitable.
Now, we immediately imagined that the disappearance of the automata would mean that of the species or would create authentic banking deserts for certain populations or localities. This last aspect would be true in France and even more so in certain countries such as Germany, where there are 121 ATMs per 100,000 inhabitants, therefore only a little more than in France but where a German withdraws an average of €7,027 in cash. year, compared to €1,318 for a French person.
Only it’s nothing! We are talking about ATMs as we know them. Sophisticated machines that have never managed to convert their users to functions other than withdrawing money and checking accounts (which is now done on mobile devices). We are talking, then, about machines that are now too sophisticated and expensive for their real use, which can be easily replaced by simpler vending machines (without a screen or keyboard and can be controlled from a mobile phone, for example), by relays in shops (there are already more than 25,000 in France) or other formulas (the delivery of money through drones has even been tested).
More immediately, a grouping of ATMs between banks would represent a first solution. It is therefore surprising that, except in the UK, this formula, although viewed favorably by several large French banks five years ago, is not being further explored.
Source: BFM TV
