Neither in ATMs nor in branches
First Cooperative Bank no longer issues cash – does this example set a precedent in Switzerland?
It’s not a new cash-less bank here, but a regional co-operative bank in the German state of Hesse. Fewer and fewer customers were withdrawing cash from ATMs and bank counters. ATMs are also steadily reduced in Switzerland.
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The network of ATMs in Switzerland is dense above average – for now. Automated teller machine in Lausanne.
The Raiffeisenbank in Hochtaunus is a very ordinary co-operative bank. Except that soon they won’t give money anymore! The four branches of the small bank in the German state of Hesse will be closed this year, and ATMs will be dismantled «Biallo.de» mentioned. According to the online financial magazine, there is only one centralized service center, but no cash transactions.
Recently we had only two visitors per hour. The number of cash withdrawals was less than ten per day across all branches,” says Achim Brunner, 53, CEO of Raiffeisenbank im Hochtaunus, the online financial magazine. From now on, Raiffeisenbank Hochtaunus customers will have to use other banks and their ATMs to withdraw cash, but they can still withdraw cash there for free.
More than 3000 ATMs are disappearing
So far, it has been the new banks that have taken a keen interest in cash, and have instead rolled out smartphone banking. The fact that a regional co-operative bank is now putting an end to banknotes and coins speaks of a change in the monetary business.
And it doesn’t stop with Switzerland either: there are more than 7,000 ATMs in this country – at the moment. “Obviously there are too many,” Six boss Jos Dijsselhof, 56, said at the start of the year in an interview with SonntagsBlick. He predicted that half of the ATMs in Switzerland will disappear within the next five years.
Tank cracker gate
According to financial services provider Six, the number of ATMs in Switzerland is above average. However, for five years I have observed “a steady decline of ATMs in Switzerland in the single-digit percentage range,” she says on demand.
Cash withdrawals per ATM in Switzerland are also below average – and the trend continues to fall. After all, criticism is becoming more and more fashionable. According to this year’s study on payment methods by comparison service Moneyland, only 30% of the Swiss population still considers cash indispensable. The pandemic has accelerated the decline in liquidity.
Swiss banks bear the expensive cost! – ATM network for a smaller group of customers. This also has the risk of being a gateway to tank crackers: they last hit a few days ago in Mihelsken LU.
Popular initiative afraid of money
However, banks do not want to completely say goodbye to cash, as evidenced by inquiries from Blick to the largest Swiss financial institutions. They announced in unison that the number of ATMs is declining – but that they will never go down to zero. Postfinance is particularly strict: It’s obligated under the Basic Service’s mandate to keep giving people cash, an advance from Twint, Apple Pay, or not.
The recent outright failure of all card payments at Coop also shows that cash is necessary after all. Especially with regard to a possible lack of energy.
Indeed, the grassroots initiative “Critique is Freedom” was launched last year. She wants to state in the Federal Constitution that “coins or banknotes are always available in sufficient quantity.” Signature collection continues until February. Behind the request is the Swiss Freedom Movement, which has already launched the “Stop Compulsory Vaccination” initiative.
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