Cashless threat to ATMs

Some interesting and perhaps alarming numbers surrounding ATMs and how fast the world is embracing the cashless society. Interesting because credit/debit card growth and new technologies, mainly the smart phone, are changing the way people treat money. However, the news might be alarming for those companies who make their money from the ubiquitous automatic teller machines (ATMs).

In the US, Europe and Canada, New York-based hedge fund Kerrisdale Capital Management is citing research showing declines of between 0.3 per cent and 5 per cent per year on ATM usage even as those economies, populations and consumption trends have increased.

However, it is Sweden where the shift to a cashless economy has been most profound. Withdrawals in Sweden have fallen by 30 per cent from 2004 to 2011 and are expected to fall by between 6 per cent and 8 per cent a year.

Down Under the Australian Financial Review is reporting that Australians are shunning ATMs at an even faster rate than most developed countries, reports the AFR. While monthly withdrawals roughly doubled to $72.9 million from 1998 in 2008, they never have been that high since.

In 2013, the monthly volumes of ATM withdrawals fell about 5 per cent to $67.7 million, according to the Australian Payments Clearing Association. That is in contrast to a 7 per cent growth in credit card transactions and a 14 per cent growth in debit card transactions over 2013.

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