Transforming Access to Cash in the UK

A key theme of the ATMIA’s Europe and Emerging Markets summit was how access to cash is being managed in the UK. Barclays Bank, Cash Access UK, OneBanx and NatWest Bank spoke about the reality behind the UK’s journey to tackle the problem of access to cash.

Cash Access UK

Cash Access UK is an independent company with 100 staff funded by its member banks – AIB in Northern Ireland, Bank of Ireland UK, Barclays, Danske Bank, HSBC UK, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group, Santander, TSB, and Virgin Money.

It came into being when the Access to Cash review confirmed the impact and implications of the decline of cash use. Progress has been relatively slow but steady.

Cash Access UK is effectively a property company rather than a financial services company. It has 186 banking hubs already in place, 135 of which have deposit services, carrying out a million customer transactions per month. It aims to have 200 hubs open by the end of year, with 350 to be opened in total. The costs of the hub are shared across the member banks.