British ATM’s “July Winter”: Who is pulling down the existence of cash trading?

How do financial institutions “routines” users?

Banks across the Western world are shutting down teller machines and branches, trying to get users to choose their digital payment and digital banking infrastructure.



During the period from November 2017 to April 2018, nearly 1500 machines on the UK’s largest ATM link network were shut down, in part due to a sharp increase in non-contact payment of small transactions, which reduced demand for cash.

ATMs around the UK are shutting down at 300 units/month, and the suburbs are more impacted.

Just as Google wants everyone to access and browse the wider Internet through its privately controlled search portal, financial institutions want everyone to be able to set foot in a wider range of financial scenarios through their own systems.

There is also a goal to cut costs to increase profits.

The staff needed by the branch can be replaced with standardized self-service, allowing senior managers in financial institutions to more directly control and monitor interactions with customers.

Of course, the bank’s argument is different. Users sometimes receive a letter from the bank claiming that they are shutting down their local branch because “customers are digitizing”, so they are “responding to changing customer preferences”-but users never ask them to turn off their branches.

This creates some kind of “dead loop” : branches are closed, atms are withdrawn Users are more likely to “choose” digital options if they have greater difficulty in choosing these offline banking services. In behavioural economics it is called a nudge: if a powerful institution wants people to choose something, the best strategy is to have no alternative.



Visa had a payment meltdown a few months earlier, with millions of people relying on digital payments suddenly in trouble and queues forming at Britain’s atms.

UK finance, a banking institution, has said that debit cards have been paid more than cash for the first time, making it the most popular form of payment in the UK: Consumers used debit cards 13.2 billion times last year, up 14% from 2016. During the same period, the number of cash transactions decreased by 15% to 13.1 billion.

Link pointed out that due to the sharp decline in cash usage, the current ATM network in the UK is not sustainable, with 80% of the machines being less than 300 meters away from another cash point. According to the data they have given, the proportion of cash payments has fallen by 33% in the past 10 years, and the number of free ATMs has increased by 50% over the same period.

Link is trying to protect suburban sites by reducing “exchange fees” in the busy centre, but increasing costs in more remote areas. But others still suspect the bank’s motive is to force consumers away from cash.

Digital system may be “convenient”, but they are easy to fault – cash doesn’t crash, however, it does not rely on external data center, also not controlled by the remote monitoring, also allows the existence of not monitored “off-grid” space, cash transactions can’t let financial institutions and financial technology companies get fees and data, this is what the latter want to get away from it.



It is important to note that there seems to be some kind of coherence between government and financial institutions.

The Treasury’s recent public consultation on cash and digital payments in the new economy seems to strike a balance, noting that cash is still important.

But years of subtle lobbying by the financial sector have clearly paid off: cash has been accused of negative factors, linked to crime and tax evasion, with little mention of the negative impact of digital payments.

People who do not have a bank account will find themselves further marginalized, and the cash-payment system, which has played an important role, is farther away. There is little to know about cash-related psychological cues: Cash payments can boost self-control, and bank cards or mobile payments can spur consumption.

Is it really in the interest of the general public that cash becomes less and less available?