Means of payment: Bundesbank: Access to cash has become more complex

According to the Bundesbank, the cash supply in Germany is currently secured despite the mining of thousands of ATMs and the closure of bank branches. However, “downward trends in the availability of cash (…) are recognizable,” the Bundesbank writes in its monthly report March.

“The falling number of bank branches and ATMs as well as the increasing proportion of citizens who report an increased effort for cash supply underline the perspective that a good cash availability in Germany will not be a matter of course in the future,” the essay published.

Further ways to the ATM

According to the Bundesbank analysis, the vast majority of the citizens of the Bundesbank analysis can still provide cash within their own municipal boundaries. Around 80.7 million people or 95.7 percent of the total population live in municipalities with at least one ATM or bank switch. 3.6 million people have to leave their own community to get cash at a credit institution.

Because money houses have been reducing the number of ATMs for years – also because criminals are increasingly blown up such devices and cause high damage – the paths for consumers have often become further. The number of bank branches in Germany more than halved from around 53,000 in 2002 to 21,000 in 2023. The ATMs initially went up to around 59,000 machines by 2018, and since then the number has dropped: in 2023 there were around 51,000 ATMs in Germany.

Nationwide, citizens live on average 1.4 kilometers from the nearest ATM or bank switch. In urban regions it is an average of 1.1 kilometers, 1.9 kilometers in the country.

Despite the comparatively manageable distances, many find access to cash as increasingly difficult: In surveys by the Bundesbank, the proportion of those who find it quite difficult or very difficult to get an ATM or bank switch from 6 percent more than doubled in 2021 in 2023.

Removing money when shopping as an option

For many, it is an alternative to withdraw cash when paying at the cash register. This so -called cashback is possible at 31,289 locations. On average, consumers have to cover 1.7 kilometers to get to a shop with such an offer.

The Bundesbank emphasizes: The purchase of cash at the cash register is an addition to ATMs and bank switches, but no replacement: “A large part of the cash payments at the box does not have to be checked beforehand, which means that no longer any current cash can continue to circulate. In contrast, credit institutions can and must reliably check the quality and authenticity of cash.” For example, damaged notes or counterfeit money can be reliably pulled out of circulation.

In order for people to continue to choose between cash and digital means of payment, “an intact infrastructure for cash supply must continue to exist in the future,” warns the Bundesbank.