LINK ATM transaction volume in the UK 2014-2020, per month

Over the course of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, UK consumers increasingly withdrew less and less money from ATM machines. This after comparing figures from several years regarding LINK ATMs: Almost every ATM machine in the United Kingdom is a part of the LINK ATM network. Since the global outbreak of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown of businesses and individuals, both the number of cash withdrawals and the value of those withdrawals has plummeted to the lowest figures displayed during the period under observation.

Free to use cash machines

In 2019, around 75 percent of cash machines in the United Kingdom were free to use. Whether an ATM is free to use appears to be a very important factor as to if the machine is used to withdraw money. During 2019, free to use ATM’s accounted for 98 percent of withdrawals. The other two percent of withdrawals were made using the 15.3 thousand fee-based machines situated in the UK.

ATM’s fall across Europe

Between 2016 and 2018, the number of ATM’s in Europe has fallen by almost 14 thousand. Each ATM in Europe services an average of over 64 thousand individuals. The decrease in Automated Teller Machines in Europe has been a direct cause of the rise in cashless payments. Across the continent, people are choosing to use cards and mobile payments as their preferred process instead of the incumbency of using physical cash.