News

ATM to be top distribution channel for euro

November 28, 2001

LONDON -- Up to 70 percent of all new euro currency is expected to be distributed via ATMs in the 12 nations making the switch on Jan. 1, according to a Reuters report.

Relatively little euro currency will be passed over bank counters, retail experts believe. Second to the ATM as a distribution channel will be retail shops where clerks will make change with the new banknotes and coins.

In a recent poll conducted in the top four euro zone economies plus Britain, retailers said they expected costs to rise by an average of 5.3 percent as they upgrade point-of-sale equipment such as tills and cash handling systems.

Almost two-fifths of the shopkeepers, restaurateurs and other entrepreneurs said they would absorb those costs, but 10 percent said they would raise prices to offset higher spending on software, hardware and training.