Four major French banks to share cash machines to better serve rural areas
The partnership is aiming to position ATMs more strategically and usefully
The new ATMs, managed by four leading banks in France, are aiming to make it easier for people in rural areas to access their cash
Sergo Jaxua / Shutterstock / cash-services.fr
Four major French banks - including Crédit Mutuel and Société Générale - are to roll out shared cash machines in rural areas to better serve places that may not have any other ATM options.
The project, dubbed ‘Cash Services’, is set to see the installation of ‘brand free’ ATMs (distributeurs automatiques de billets, DAB, in French) in neighbourhoods and rural communities that may not have had any previous cash machine provision.
The ATMs are expected to begin operating over the course of 2025, after two years of testing and development by the banks involved:
BNP Paribas
Société Générale
CIC
Crédit Mutuel
All the machines will display a single, black-and-white Cash Services logo, and will be maintained by each of the four banks.
In many areas, banks have considered the cost of maintaining an ATM (which can run to tens of thousands of euros) to be prohibitive, meaning that they either charge users expensive withdrawal fees, or remove the ATM completely.
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Figures from Banque de France show that the number of ATMs has fallen sharply in recent years, with a drop of 16% between 2018 and the end of 2023, to a total of 44,123 machines nationwide, reports La Dépêche.
Instead, the Cash Services system is aiming to be a win-win: It will enable the banks to pool the costs of installing and maintaining an ATM, and provide easier cash access for those in more remote areas.
More strategic ATM locations
Yet, the new service will not mean that there are more ATMs overall.
By the end of 2026, the four-bank partnership is aiming to have 10,000 ATMs. The intention is that rather than simply increasing their number, the ATMs will be distributed more strategically and usefully across the country.
For example, instead of having a Société Générale machine and a BNP machine close to each other on the same street, the new system will mean that there will only be one Cash Services ATM instead. And some rural communes will receive a new ATM where there was previously nothing at all.
The current rollout schedule for the Cash Services sites to the end of 2025 is as follows, the banks said in a press release to AFP:
300 in total by the end of February
More than 1,000 by the end of June
Almost 3,000 by the end of 2025
“By [the start of] 2026, almost 7,000 Cash Services sites will be deployed,” the press release states, including 5,000 in bank branches, and 2,000 outside.
The machines will not only enable users to withdraw cash; they will also allow the deposit of cheques and coins, account transfers, balance access, and a view of transaction history.
The full list of the Cash Services ATMs, and their locations, can be seen on the official website here.
Cash still king?
Figures show that cash withdrawals are still important in France, if waning slightly.
Despite increased online banking provision, digital transfer methods, and a slight drop in ATM withdrawals, cash still accounts for 55% of transactions by individuals in France, said a European study by consulting firm BearingPoint.
