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UK's ATM network provider cuts charges to encourage cash access

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UK's ATM network provider cuts charges to encourage cash access

The U.K.'s main cash machine provider, LINK, announced a 5% reduction in interchange rates — the fees card issuers pay an ATM operator — to 24 pence per withdrawal.

The reduction will come into effect July 1, and is the first of four annual reductions, the cash machine provider said. LINK has also proposed a subsidy of up to 30 pence, from the current 10 pence, to ensure availability of free ATMs in areas where access to cash is poor.

These provisions are aimed at increasing ATM availability across the U.K. instead of their concentration in city centers, as revealed by recent data cited by LINK. LINK said it expects a small reduction in the number of available free ATMs, but said this would take place in areas that are already saturated with cash points.

All the U.K.'s major banks and building societies are members of the LINK network, but they and others have argued that a reduction in the fees LINK gets for operating the network could jeopardize the availability of free cashpoints, particularly in underserved rural areas. Most U.K. ATMs are free of charge to all customers regardless of the bank they use, but concerns have been raised that disadvantaged customers in particular could be left to rely on machines that levy a charge to access funds.

"This will help protect existing ATMs and ensure consumers in remote and rural areas will still get access to the cash they need," said Tracey Graham, independent chair of the LINK consumer council.

LINK also said it would set up an independently chaired review of how the long-term shift to digital payments, and away from cash, will affect the ATM network.