Cash 'lives on' after 50 years of ATMs
27 June 2017
Cash will remain a part of our day-to-day lives for decades, the Bank of England's chief cashier has said on the 50th anniversary of the ATM.
Victoria Cleland said that although the use of notes and coins in transactions is falling, cash is part of all the Bank's future plans.
All did not go entirely to plan with the first ATMs. When one was installed in Zurich, Switzerland, there was a mysterious malfunction. Eventually, it was found that wires from two intersecting tramlines nearby were interfering with the mechanism.
There are now about 70,000 cash machines across the UK, and 176 million cards in the UK that can be used to withdraw cash at them.
These cards were used to withdraw a total of £180bn from UK cash machines last year.
The latest developments aim to make the ATM a "bank branch in a box". Manufacturer NCR said its research showed that 80% of the transactions typically completed inside a physical branch could be completed through a video teller at an ATM.
Portugal has the highest proportion of cash machines in western Europe with 1,516 machines per one million residents.
