Access to Cash in France Good (for Now)

At the Intergraf conference the Banque de France (BdeF) presented on the access to cash situation in France and how it has changed since 2018. The good news is that access to cash remains good throughout France. However, there are indications of change.

Between the end of 2018 and 2020 Metropolitan France (France less the overseas territories) saw a reduction of 3.6% in the number of ATMs. Despite that, 90% of the population have an ATM or private point of access, sometimes known as ‘cash in shop’, where they live. This has not changed during this period.

BdeF data records the distance people have to travel to access either an ATM or private point of access. 82.2% of the population are within five minutes of an ATM and 99.2% within 15 minutes. When private points of access are included, the figures go up to 94.5% and 99.9% respectively.

Up to the end of 2020, the number of universal ATMs was declining while private points of access were increasing. The change has been tiny, though, with the number of ATMs and private points of access per 10,000 people declining from 14.4 in 2019 to 14 in 2020.

The expectation for 2021 had been a decline of 2.7% but the decline was actually 10%. This increase would have been greater if France had not experienced a sharp increase in the number of Independent ATM Deployers (IADs). These rose from 100 in 2019 and 2020 to 358 in 2021. Euronet is the leading provider, with Loomis and Brinks also acting as IADs.

France is divided into regions, known as departments. The presentation gave data on 17 of them showing the number of IADs as a share of the total number of ATMs. Savoie had the highest share, 5%, with two having 3% and seven having 2% and 1% shares. It identified rural and areas with high levels of tourism having the highest levels of IADs.

Private points of access increased 2% in 2020 and 13% in 2021 reaching just over 26,000 in total.

In October 2021 Crédit Mutuel, BNP Paribas and Société General, who account for 30% of France’s ATMs, announced that they will pool their ATM networks by the end of 2023. Where this has happened in other countries, there has been a sharp reduction in the number of ATMs with some increase in the distance travelled to reach an ATM. The BdeF has said it will monitor what happens.

While the headline suggests access to cash remains good in France, indications of change are apparent.