No holes in the wall and no banks leave towns without cash
This is a disaster for the Scottish economy, says financial expert
Bank closures and a threat to independent ATMs will leave towns across Scotland without access to cash, experts have warned.
RBS announced 62 branch closures on Friday, a third of all its banks in Scotland, and the other banks have promised or implemented cuts to their branch network saying more customers are banking online.
The major banks want to slash the fees they pay to independent ATM operators to cut their own costs, and industry expert Ron Delnevo said up to 5000 independent ATMs could be hit in Scotland.
He said: “There are towns across Scotland which do not have a single bank.
“Banks are not only shutting branches along with their own ATMs, they are also trying to cut the already tiny fee paid for every cash machine transaction, which could leave more communities struggling to access money.
“The effect on rural communities, housing estates, tourism and small businesses is already devastating. The worst hit will end up as ghost towns.
“Because of Scotland’s rural communities it depends more than England on independent ATMs, and we suspect up to 5000 of those could be at risk.
“And as Scotland depends so heavily on tourism, with banks closing down at major sites such as Bannockburn, this whole situation is a disaster for the economy.”
Mr Delnevo, who heads up the ATM industry association, said: “South Queensferry lost its only bank, and the next nearest branch is Davidson Mains in Edinburgh.
“Lairg in Sutherland has just one free ATM and if that is lost, the next free cash machine is nine miles away in Bonnar Bridge.”
He said towns and housing estates across Scotland have been hit, from inner cities to Coldstream in the Borders as well as rural communities and the Highlands.
Mr Delnevo said: “It’s not just the fact that up to 20,000 independent ATMs are being placed at risk because of the proposed fee cuts to 20p per transaction, I believe banks are trying to drive us towards becoming a cashless society reliant on electronic banking.
“I’ve heard banks are thinking of doing away with as many branches and ATMs as they can so the public may find the only way they can get their hands on actual money is through cash- back when they do their supermarket shopping.”
The expert said that from 20,000 bank branches in the late 1980s, we now have less than 8000 and forecast it will be 4000 by 2020.
He said ATM fees are already “extremely low” and, while banks save millions shedding jobs and closing branches, they are now proposing a 20% cut to the fees paid to cash machine operators.
Bankers claim a 40% drop in branch use since 2014 and say mobile transactions have increased by 73%.
An RBS spokesman said: “As customers change the way they bank with us, we must change the way that we serve them and this means that some branches have to close.”
But it could be the final straw for many businesses. David Richardson of the Highlands and Islands Federation of Small Businesses said: “Twenty per cent of island businesses are considering relocating because it is now just too difficult to operate. It’s only going to worsen.”