The surge in the online payments amid coronavirus lockdown has caused a massive hit on the ATM transactions in the United Kingdom. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of the physical currency among the Britons was in decline. However, with consumers staying at home amid coronavirus lockdown, ATM transactions hit the deepest point in years.
According to data gathered by BuyShares, the monthly number of ATM transactions in the United Kingdom plunged by 40% year-on-year reaching 110.4 million as of May.
Value of ATM Cash Withdrawals Dropped Almost 45% in Six Months
In December 2019, the monthly number of ATM transactions in the United Kingdom amounted to 204.24 million, revealed Statista and VocaLink data. In the next two months, this figure dropped to 180.99 million. However, with the coronavirus lockdown rules in place, the number of ATM transactions plunged to 154.93 million in March, a 33% fall year-on-year. The downsizing trend continued in the second quarter of 2020, with the number of transactions reaching 110.43 million in May.
Statistics also show that, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the value of ATM withdrawals in the United Kingdom plummeted to the deepest level during the period under observation. In December 2019, the monthly value of cash withdrawals from ATMs that belonged to the LINK cash machine network in the United Kingdom amounted to £9.9bn. In the next two months, this figure fell to £8.2bn, a usual drop in the first two months of the year.
However, with millions of Britons locked inside their homes amid COVID-19 pandemic, the monthly value of withdrawals plunged to £7.4bn in March, almost £2.8bn decrease year-on-year. The downsizing trend continued in the last two months with the amount falling to £5.6bn in May, a 45% dive compared to the same month a year ago.
ATM`s Fall in the United Kingdom
Besides a significant drop in the number and the value of monthly ATM transactions, recent years have also witnessed a decrease in the combined number of cash machines operating in the United Kingdom.
In the second quarter of 2016, Britons could use more than 70,100 ATMs across the country. Since then, the number of cash machines has dropped by more than 10,500, totalling approximately 60,000 in the first quarter of 2020.
Analyzed by operators, Cardtronics represents the market leader with over 17,500 ATMs as of December 2019. Statistics show that NoteMachine is the second-largest operator in the country with more than 10,500 cash machines. NatWest and PayPoint follow with nearly 7,000 and 4,000 ATMs, respectively.
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