In the cashless fast lane: ATM deaths rampant in Switzerland

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Today, everyone who pays bills at the cash register usually takes out a credit card or uses a smartphone. Banknotes and coins are used less often – for many they seem like a relic from the past. Because: Cashless payments have also become established in this country. A victim of this trend towards digital payments is ATMs.

Until a few years ago, the location network continued to grow: at the start of 2020, about 7,300 ATMs were still operating in Switzerland – about a thousand more than a decade ago, according to the National Bank’s statistics. Banks like Valiant were content to install vending machines in places that didn’t have their own bank branches.

Corona reversed the trend

Trend reversal will begin in 2020. During the corona pandemic, many people switched overnight payment behavior from cash to cashless. In January 2021 there were still 6,903 ATMs, a year later 6,766. Most recently, SNB statistics showed 6,342 ATMs as of the end of March. About 50 ATMs were deregistered in the last month alone.

ATMs are therefore used less and less. But that’s probably not the only reason machines die. It’s also about security. A large number of ATMs have been blown up in Switzerland in the last two years. Criminals tried to take money from ATMs.

ATMs will be around for a long time

Banks reacted differently. Many take additional security measures, such as paints that render money unusable in the event of an explosion. Other banks have reduced the opening hours of their ATM zones to make night attacks more difficult.

The network is getting smaller and smaller, but ATMs won’t disappear anytime soon, because cash is still too common for that in everyday life. That said, the picture of declining numbers isn’t likely to change anytime soon.

Source :Blick