Fewer and fewer Swiss still regularly have cash in their sacks. This development has been strengthened by the pandemic. This is also illustrated by a study now by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. According to this research, the number of ATMs in Switzerland has dropped by 10 percent since the start of the pandemic.
As Blick reported at the end of October, there are banks in Germany that don’t use cash at all. However, this goes too far for Swiss financial institutions. They keep cash, but still rip out ATMs.
Digital payment tools on the rise
In a 2020 study by the Swiss National Bank (SNB), 43 percent of respondents still cited cash as the most popular means of payment. But at the same time, transactions with cards and digital payment tools are also increasing rapidly.
In 2017, almost 70 percent of payments were still made in cash and just under 30 percent with debit or credit cards. In 2020, only 40 percent cash and more than 45 percent payable with either of the two card types.
Fewer and fewer ATMs
For people who still pay cash, the ATM is still the most popular source of supply. However, their numbers have been declining since the outbreak. In February 2020, there were still 7,240 ATMs across Switzerland. In August 2022 there were only 6570 units. This corresponds to a decrease of about 10 percent.
In 2020, 92 percent of Swiss people said they had enough ATMs. On average, according to data from the “Swiss Money Map”, you have to walk 1138 meters to the nearest ATM in Switzerland. Of course, this distance largely depends on the location. In cities, distances are usually shorter. In the country they are slightly longer.
Too many ATMs in Switzerland?
More than 7,000 ATMs, “that’s clearly too much,” six bosses Jos Dijsselhof (56) said in an interview with “SonntagsBlick” earlier in the year. Dijsselhof assumes that 50 percent of the machines will disappear within the next five years. This is due to high costs that no longer pay off in the event of a sustained decline in cash withdrawals.
Expensive ATMs
Depending on the model, a conventional ATM costs between 40,000 and 90,000 francs. There are also annual maintenance costs between 15,000 and 40,000 CHF.
If cash withdrawals are dwindling, at some point it’s no longer worth running many ATMs. Operating costs then quickly exceed the revenue generated by a single machine.