The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and HBOS are to install
400 free to use cash machines in the poorest communities in the
UK.
Cash machines – or automated teller machines (ATMs) – are
increasingly popular, with a 28% increase in cash machine
withdrawals and a 37% rise in balance enquiries over the past three
years.
But some banks have been criticised for imposing charges on
users, a move that hits poorer people who rely on the machines for
access to cash hardest. HBOS estimated that there were 400 deprived
areas in Scotland and the North of England serviced solely by
surcharging ATMs.
RBS will install 300 new machines and HBOS another 100, with the
two banks coordinating the distribution of the free to use ATMs
between them.
Gordon Pell, RBS chief executive of retail markets, said: “By
working in conjunction with local MPs, local authorities, credit
unions and the communities they represent, to identify potential
sites, the poorest areas in the UK will soon have free access to
their cash, via machines located in their local area.”
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