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The consumer rights watchdog has called for the appointment of a new regulator to protect the interests of millions of people who still use cash in an increasingly poor society.
According to new data from the consumer group, ATMs in the UK have disappeared at a rate of nearly 500 per month in the second half of 2018 – more than half of them being free machines – while British businesses and consumers are opting for the Digital Payments. This raised concerns about the creation of "ATM deserts" in areas outside major British cities.
ATM operators have also warned that controversial cuts to card issuer fees would make thousands of money points uneconomic.
Which? This action was needed to help the 25 million Britons for whom the banknotes and coins were "still a necessity" and stated that customers were hit with a "double blow of cash and the closing of banks" ". The effect, he added, was to leave many communities "struggling to access the cash on which they rely."
The organization said a regulatory body should be appointed to take sole responsibility for the UK's treasury infrastructure to protect consumers and businesses and ensure everyone's digital payments are safeguarded.
In addition to losing ATMs, the UK has lost two-thirds of its bank branch network over the last 30 years, according to Parliament's records. As a result, one-fifth of households are now located more than 3 km from their nearest bank.
At the same time, nearly three-quarters of the population still use species frequently, according to which? survey of 2,000 adults last year. More than half of those surveyed said they had recently been found in a situation with no alternative but to pay in cash.
Last year, the Ceeney report, a government-backed study, found that switching to digital payments could be a "serious problem" for one in five people. The report, led by Natalie Ceeney, former executive director of the Financial Ombudsman Service, said some groups, such as the elderly and disabled, and those in rural areas were particularly vulnerable to cash surrender.
Which? He also pointed out the technological problems faced by banks such as TSB – when thousands of TSB customers had been stranded on their online accounts last year as a result of a failed IT migration – illustrating the dangers for customers using digital banking services.
Jenni Allen, CEO of Which? Money, said: "The money is. . . a vital life-saving solution as fallible digital payments grow in popularity, the government must appoint a regulator to oversee these changes and ensure that no one is excluded and struggling to fight their daily lives. "
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