BNP Paribas, Socit Gnrale and Crdit Mutuel Alliance Fdrale, which owns the CIC network, will start from the fourth quarter of 2023 to pool the approximately 15,000 ATMs they manage in France.
Named Cash services, even reducing the number of ATMs and operating costs, this project will make it possible to sustainably sustain the self-service banking to which the French are attached, in both urban and rural areas, underline the three banking groups in a joint press release published on Wednesday.
The project was announced in October 2021, but is taking place a little later than expected. In October 2022, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of BNP Paribas, Thierry Laborde, in charge of retail banking networks in particular, mentioned a launch for early 2023.
If they do not yet communicate on the number of ATMs available when the project is fully deployed, that is to say at the end of 2025, the banking establishments indicate that the offer for each of the customers will be reinforced up to 3 times.
The smallest of the networks concerned, CIC, comprising approximately 2,100 ATMs at the end of 2021, this suggests that there will remain at least 300 Cash Services distributors throughout the territory, which would represent a significant reduction compared to the existing total for the three groups combined .
Urban areas mainly concerned
It is the urban areas where the four brands coexist – BNP Paribas, SG (the new brand resulting from the merger between Socit Gnrale and Crdit du Nord), Crdit Mutuel and CIC – which are the main areas concerned by this pooling project.
No ATM should be closed in rural and isolated areas, assured one of the three banks during the presentation of the initial project.
Cash Services distributors will make it possible to withdraw or deposit banknotes and coins, deposit checks, consult balances or edit bank details.
An optimized cost center
Banks are trying to optimize the number of ATMs present in the territory because it is of course a cost center, explained in November the director of fiduciary affairs at the Banque de France, Christophe Baud-Berthier. Fewer distributors means less costs for supplies, maintenance, the comings and goings of cash carriers…
The total number of ATMs is already on the decline in France: the metropolis lost on average just over 2 per day in 2021. It had 47,853 ATMs at the end of that same year, according to the Banque de France, i.e. nearly 10% less than at the end of 2018.
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