White Paper
Cash in the digital age: How utility ATM networks sustain financial access worldwide
October 17, 2025
If cash is here to stay, as countless experts, government officials and financial institutions themselves contend or admit, then utility ATM networks serve the indispensable function of ensuring its uninterrupted flow. It's a complex picture: ATM machines are shrinking in number worldwide (though not in the US) and a growing number of businesses are going cashless. Nonetheless, evidence points to robust cash flow, unflagging consumer demand for it, and networks poised to deliver on the promise of expanded services for users who need and want them.
This paper delves "behind the velvet curtain" to define the utility ATM network and examine the state of play in the US and more than a dozen other nations. No two schemes are alike, while some countries remain in the process of adoption and others (such as Japan) have legal obstacles that prevent their creation. Though you can't see them the way you would a keypad or touchscreen, utility ATM networks remain as close as a digital bank map, former financial institution branch site, gas station or nearest retail store.
About The Sponsor
NCR Atleos
NCR Atleos expands self-service financial access for retailers and financial institutions who leverage our expertise, operational scale, always-on global services and constant innovation to deliver convenient self-service banking.
