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British MPs grill independent ATM operators

February 1, 2005

The Guardian: Four of the UK's biggest operators of fee-charging ATMs denied exploiting customers and profiteering as they were grilled by MPs yesterday over their "aggressive" expansion strategies.

Three of the companies -- Cardpoint, Bank Machine and Moneybox -- were forced on to the defensive after it emerged that at a private meeting they had voted against industry proposals aimed at giving consumers clearer information about ATM charges.

MPs have warned that Britain's network of free-to-use cash machines could be in danger of disappearing altogether if the explosion in the number of ATMs that charge fees carries on unchecked.

Campaigners claim the problem has been exacerbated by banks selling off some of their ATMs to independent operators. HBOS recently sold 816 of its machines to Cardpoint, and 250 of these have already converted to fee-charging ATMs, with more likely to go the same way. Meanwhile, Hanco, Britain's largest operator of fee-charging cash machines, was bought by Royal Bank of Scotland last year.

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