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Singapore's DBS Bank to shut down all its ATMs in Taiwan
November 18, 2019
Singapore's DBS Bank has decided to shut down all of its ATMs in Taiwan by early next year as its clients shift to online services and paying with cards.
The bank blamed digitalization and the high density of the machines in the area as the reasons for removing its 40 cash machines from the self-governing island of 24 million claimed by China, Taipei Times reported last week.
All of the ATMs in question are located in branches. The bank plans to remove 10 machines in December and the remaining 30 by early next year.
"We have found that more customers have less of a need to withdraw cash," reducing ATM usage, the bank said in the report.
Removing the machines would have little impact on customers, the bank said. Clients who need cash could see a branch teller or visit ATMs run by other banks.
Taiwan reportedly has the highest density of ATMs in the world, with a total of more than 30,000 machines, according to the Financial Supervisory Commission, Taiwan's top banking and market regulator. Most of those are located in subway stations and convenience stores.
In 2017, DBS removed all of its ATMs from China at a time when Chinese customers switched to using Alipay and WeChat Pay, according to the report.
