Minister Chambers welcomes the publication of the Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill 2024

The Minister for Finance, Jack Chambers T.D., today welcomes the publication of the Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill 2024. The Bill aims to ensure that sufficient and effective access to cash is available in the State, and that any further evolution of the cash infrastructure will be managed in a fair, orderly, transparent and equitable manner for all stakeholders.

Minister Chambers commented:

The Bill stems from a recommendation made by the Retail Banking Review, published in November 2022, highlighting the continuing importance of cash in ensuring people do not experience financial exclusion, in allowing consumers to budget efficiently, and the need for a safety net in the event of electronic banking, or the payments infrastructure, being impacted by outages or cyber-attacks.

The Review also called on Department officials to require ATM operators to be authorised and supervised by the Central Bank and to provide the Central Bank with responsibility and powers to protect the resilience of the cash system.

The Bill published today incorporates both of these elements in one piece of legislation, and establishes that access to cash will be maintained, initially, at approximately December 2022 levels. It places an obligation on designated entities, the three main retail banks in the first instance, to ensure in each of the NUTS 3 regions that:

• a specified percentage of the population must be within no less than 5km and no more than 10km of an ATM;
• there is a specified number of ATMs per 100,000 people;
• a specified percentage of the population must be within no less than 5km and no more than 10km of a cash service point – either a bank branch or a post office.

The Bill also provides for the rectification of local deficiencies – locations where particular difficulties arise in accessing cash. Furthermore, the Bill allows the Minister for Finance, following consultation with the Central Bank of Ireland, to make regulations that prohibit or cap the maximum access fee that can be charged if access fees are introduced in the future because they become a barrier to cash access and decrease financial inclusion.

Reviews of the access to cash criteria will be carried out following the publication of final Census population data, if cash demand drops by 15% in a calendar year compared to the previous year, or at the request of the Minister for Finance. A review may also be carried out on the Central Bank’s own initiative.

The Bill also provides for the registration and supervision by the Central Bank of ATM deployers and cash-in-transit providers. This will permit the Central Bank to make regulations introducing service standards for all ATM operators in relation to matters such as hours of operation, operational resilience and bank note denomination stocking.

The drafting of this important legislation has been a priority, and the Minister for Finance gratefully acknowledges the efforts of the Office of Parliamentary Counsel to the Government in ensuring the timely publication of the Bill.

Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill 2024

Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill 2024 - MEMO

Notes for Editors

• The Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill 2024 will be available on https://www.oireachtas.ie/
• The Bill provides that the Minister for Finance shall prescribe criteria in respect of each of the eight NUTS3 regions in the State to require that: that a specified percentage of the population must be within no less than 5km and no more than 10km of an ATM; that there be a specified number of ATMs per 100,000 people; and a specified percentage of the population must be within no less than 5km and no more than 10km of a cash service point – either a bank branch or a post office.
• NUTS3 regions are those set out under the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics classification, relied on by the European statistical agency Eurostat. The NUTS3 regions in Ireland are set out in the supplementary material.
• The initial access to cash criteria will be based on December 2022 levels. These levels, by NUTS3 region, can also be found in the supplementary material below.
• The Bill will require designated entities, whose share of current accounts and household deposits exceed percentages prescribed by the Minister for Finance, to be responsible for maintaining access to cash levels. The designated entities, will, initially, be the three main retail banks.
• The Central Bank will be responsible for the monitoring and enforcement of the legislation and will have the necessary powers to ensure compliance with the access to cash criteria.
• The Bill also provides for the remedying of local deficiencies. These are locations within a NUTS3 region where particular difficulties arise in accessing cash. The Central Bank will assess such cases and, where warranted, may require designated entities to address the issue. The Central Bank will prepare and publish guidance on local deficiencies prior to implementation of the framework.
• To ensure that the obligations being placed on the designated entities remain objective and proportionate, the legislation provides that the access to cash criteria can be amended by the Minister following a review of the criteria by the Central Bank. Reviews will have to be carried out following the publication of final Census data, if cash demand drops by 15% in a calendar year compared to the previous year, or at the request of the Minister. Reviews may also be carried out on the Central Bank’s own initiative.
• The Bill also brings ATM deployers and cash-in-transit providers within the regulatory perimeter of the Central Bank of Ireland. Under this legislation, ATM deployers and cash-in-transit providers will be required to register with the Central Bank, and the legislation will give the Central Bank the power to make regulations to prescribe requirements for all ATM operators in relation to reporting and service standards. This includes hours of operation, withdrawal limits, banknote denomination stocking, outages, maximum downtime periods, and signage and communication requirements.
• Prior to the pandemic, just under €20bn was withdrawn from ATMs in the State and the figure for 2022 was about €13.5 billion. This is a decline of just under a third. In terms of ATM transactions, the decline from pre-pandemic to 2022 is nearly 45%, from around €156m to €87m. The average value per withdrawal was c.€154 in 2022 versus €133 in 2019, and €122 in both 2015 and 2016.
• Drafting of this Bill has been ongoing throughout the course of 2024, and has incorporated the perspectives of the Central Bank, stakeholders in the cash system, stakeholder representative groups, and the recommendations of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. The Minister for Finance also gratefully acknowledges the efforts of the Office of Parliamentary Counsel to the Government in ensuring the timely publication of the Bill.

Supplementary Information

Geographical Dispersion of Total ATMs – December 2022

(Not Including Limited ATMs*)

• These are 43 ATMs in locations such as sports stadia or concert venues, which are only open for events.

Geographical Dispersion of Cash Service Points** – December 2022

(Bank & An Post Branches with over-the-counter services)

**Cash Service Points are defined as locations where cash can be deposited and withdrawn where in person assistance is available during normal business hours. Their purpose is primarily to cover the lodgement requirement but they also fulfil a critical secondary importance of facilitating ‘assisted cash’. This is for people who, due to whatever reason including disability, cannot use ATMs by themselves.

Total Number of ATMs (Not Including Limited ATMs) – December 2022

(Source: Central Bank of Ireland)

NUTS Regions in Ireland

Ireland in its entirety comprises the NUTS1 Region. There are 3 NUTS2 Regions and 8 NUTS3 Regions in Ireland (in bold), set out below:

Northern and Western Region, consisting of:

o Border – Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, and Sligo; and

o West – Galway County, Galway City, Mayo, and Roscommon;

Southern Region, consisting of:

o Mid-West – Clare, Limerick County, Limerick City and Tipperary;

o South-East – Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford County, and Waterford City; and

o South-West – Cork, Cork City, and Kerry;

Eastern and Midland Region, consisting of:

o Dublin – Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, and South Dublin;

o Mid-East – Kildare, Louth, Meath, and Wicklow; and

o Midland – Laois, Longford, Offaly, and Westmeath.