It is a small revolution that is brewing in the very competitive world of banking.
While the use of cash continues to decline, BNP Paribas, Crédit mutuel (excluding Arkéa) and Société Générale are considering pooling their automatic teller machines (ATMs).
The project of these three networks, which manage a total of a third of the withdrawal points in France (15,000 out of 48,710 distributors), is under study until the end of the year.
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If it finally sees the light of day, new distributors common to BNP Paribas, Société Générale and Crédit mutuel will be gradually set up between 2023 and the end of 2026. They will allow customers of the three brands to make withdrawals free of charge, as well as banking transactions. simple such as depositing cash or checks, consulting accounts or printing a bank identity statement (RIB).
This project aims to guarantee
"the best access to self-service banking and to strengthen the range of services for their customers"
, assure BNP Paribas, Société Générale and Crédit Mutuel in a press release.
Reduce management costs
The objective of the three establishments is first of all to adapt to the decline in the use of cash which has accelerated with the health crisis.
Last year, ticket withdrawals fell by 23%, while contactless payment exploded (+ 53% in 2020).
Pooling collection points will also and above all reduce the management costs of expensive to maintain distributors (between 25,000 and 32,000 euros per year per machine).
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The project will also involve ATM closures, but the three establishments refuse for the moment to quantify them.
"The question is not the number of ATMs, but their distribution,"
says one of the three banks.
"The study will pay particular attention to securing the installation of machines in rural areas," said
the joint press release.
"No ATM should be closed in rural and remote areas,"
adds one of the three banks.
The rationalization of the number of distributors should especially take place in towns where, moreover, branch closures are on the increase.
"In districts where there are six to eight ATMs side by side, tomorrow there could be only two"
, says a source.
Better territorial coverage
The subject of ATM removals is sensitive and followed very closely by the authorities since 2019 and the movement of "yellow vests", which had denounced a banking desertification in certain territories far from cities.
In fact, between 2015 and 2020, 6,900 ATMs were removed, but
"mainly in the most populous and best equipped cities"
, underlined in July the Banque de France.
"The current system allows 99% of the French population to access an ATM in less than 15 minutes by car",
support the banks.
"The pooling of ATMs will make it possible to obtain a better territorial network while limiting the costs for the banks, but also the withdrawal fees for the customers"
, summarizes Maxime Chipoy, president of MoneyVox.
The next expected step is indeed the pooling of agencies. ”
France is no exception in Europe.
In Belgium, four large banks (Belfius, ING, KBC and BNP Paribas-Fortis) created in 2020 the company Batopin, responsible for jointly operating three quarters of the Belgian distributor base.
