Despite the health crisis, banks continued to close cash dispensers, citing rationalization as the reason. In the space of a year, 1,600 cash dispensers were taken out of service.
7.1% of distributors closed in 2 years
At the end of 2020, there were 48,710 ATMs in France, down 3.2% in one year, corresponding to the closure of 1,600 ATMs. In the space of 2 years, the number of ATMs has fallen by 7.1%, as indicated in the report on public access to cash published on July 16 by the Banque de France.
"Cash accessibility is one of the five pillars of the national cash management policy", recalled the Banque de France in a recent press release, confirming that "banknote accessibility in mainland France has been maintained at a very good level".
Despite the closure of 7.1% of ATMs in 2 years, the institution affirms that "the coverage of the territory is globally unchanged from one year to the next". Currently, over 99% of the population aged 15 and over has access to an ATM within 15 minutes by car, or lives in a commune equipped with an ATM.
The gradual decline of cash
For the French Banking Federation (FBF), the decline in the number of ATMs reflects a change in society and in the use of cash. The health crisis has accelerated the use of other means of payment, notably contactless bankcard payments.
Against this backdrop, banknote withdrawals have fallen, and the indicator used to verify the adequacy of the ATM network - the number of ATMs per million withdrawals - has improved slightly.
In parallel with the closure of ATMs, there has been an increase in the number of private access points. Like Crédit Agricole's Relais CA, these are cash withdrawal points set up in partner stores and reserved for bank customers. They increased by 10% in 2019, and there are now almost 25,000 of them.
The decline in the number of ATMs also reflects the reduction in the number of bank branches across the country, at a time when services are becoming increasingly digitalized and many French people are turning to online banking.
New solutions are emerging, such as in towns where the town council covers the cost of installing an ATM. Some cash-in-transit companies, like Loomis, also offer to install ATMs in local communities.