NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, August 5, 2019

By Yohei Hirose

The number of ATMs worldwide has started falling as big economies increasingly go cashless.

With cash payments declining, banks are having to quickly rethink their business models to survive. Cashless technologies like cryptocurrencies and QR codes are radically changing the competitive dynamics of the financial services industry and raising new challenges for regulators.

The total number of ATMs around the world fell for the first time in 2018, slipping 1% to about 3.24 million units at the end of the year, according to Retail Banking Research, a British research company specializing in banking technology, cards and payments.

In China, the world’s largest market, the number of ATMs fell 6.8% from a year earlier to 690,000. The U.S., the second-largest ATM market, saw the total drop 0.9% to 433,500.

Photo courtesy of David Wright.