Bank / Credit Union

ATMs decline in China, increase globally

May 28, 2020

The number of ATMs worldwide slightly declined in 2019, primarily in China, which was due to increasing competition from cashless payments, according to RBR, which released its Global ATM Market and Forecasts to 2025.

The research found that there were still a number of countries and sectors that remain cash-dependent, however. Excluding the decline in China, there were more ATMs in operation at the end of 2019, compared to the year prior. Almost half the markets examined indicated an increase, with the largest rise in ATMs in India, which added over 7,000 units.

Independent ATM deployers in India installed three times as many ATMs as banks in 2019. Another growing market for ATMs is Egypt, that indicated an 11% increase in ATMs.

Reduced demand for cash due to digital banking and non-cash payments in areas such as western Europe have shown that ATMs are being scaled back. Banks in a number of areas have also begun pooling their ATMs or outsourcing the management of the fleets to IADs. In the Netherlands, the three largest banks pooled their ATMs, removing those closest to one another which caused a deep decline in this market's ATM numbers.

Looking ahead, RBR showed the industry's numbers will fluctuate in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19. Although the forecast said the number of ATMs will decline in larger markets due to the pandemic, the rate of decline will be slow, and most countries should still see ATM numbers going back up between now and 2025.

"Cash will remain essential to large segments of the world's population, either because they lack the ability to pay by other means, or just because they still have a strong personal preference for cash," said Rowan Berridge, who led RBR's ATM research and forecasting. "With banks less willing than before to maintain large branch networks, ATMs will be key to delivering cash to these customers."