Significantly reduced cash withdrawals

In Jönköping County, withdrawals from ATMs amount to an average of SEK 613 per person per month. In Västerbotten, the figure is SEK 352.

The radically reduced use of cash in recent years makes it increasingly difficult to justify a large network for cash withdrawals with commercial arguments, according to Bankomat's marketing manager Johan Nilsson.

Johan Nilsson therefore calls for more flexible rules regarding the requirements for banks to provide cash than those currently on the Riksdag's table.

- Instead of a legal requirement based on housing, I would like the banks to voluntarily undertake to maintain adequate cash infrastructure in the places where people use cash, says Johan Nilsson.

The Bankomat company is jointly owned by the major banks and has about 80% of the cash withdrawal market. Other major players in the cash withdrawal market are Ica and Kontanten, with approximately 400-500 ATMs each. ATM has 1 670 vending machines.

This means that Bankomat has removed every four ATMs since 2012. At the same time, Icabanken has increased the number from 331 to just over 400.

- Many Ica dealers, not least in the countryside, still have their ATMs as a service to their customers despite the relatively high costs involved. For many, not least the elderly, cash is still a fairly common form of payment and the ATM at the local Ica dealer is often the only one available, says Carl Lybeck, head of what is known as the Business deal at Icabanken.

However, for banks, there may be stricter requirements for cash services around the country. This autumn, the Riksdag is expected to club a new law that, as of 2021, will force all major banks to offer cash withdrawals across the country, with the threat of fines of tens of millions for those who do not meet the stricter requirements.

According to Finance Minister Per Bolund (MP), the stricter requirements for the large banks' cash services are needed to ensure that groups that are in what is called digital exclusion - such as some older, newly arrived, people with functional disabilities - have access to cash.

According to Bolund, these are people who "cannot or do not want to use other means of payment".

“There are therefore reasons to guard the functionality of cash as a means of payment. One way to do this is to ensure that access to cash services is good throughout the country. The banks should be the ones responsible for the availability of these services, ”he says in a written comment to TT.

The Riksbank Committee, which presented a report on new cash handling requirements for the banks last year, has estimated that it would cost the major banks up to SEK 15 million per year to meet the stricter requirements. However, the banks expect that it will cost considerably more.

- There will be fewer and fewer players who want to join and do this. The stores will want to handle less cash, says Johan Nilsson.

- If Bankomat were to meet the legal requirement with vending machines, we would need to put out 300-350 new vending machines in Sweden. That's a pretty big cost increase for us. We have expected this to increase our total operating costs by just over SEK 100 million per year, he adds.

He expects that the cost increase will ultimately end up with households and companies, in the form of increased fees.

- As long as you do not run a non-profit business, you have to cover your costs, says Nilsson.