Belgium/ An ATM in every municipality in Belgium by 2025
According to the Secretary of State for the Budget and Consumer Protection, Alexia Bertrand, an agreement between the government and the banking sector provides for a minimum of one ATM per commune by 2025.
Of all Europe, Belgium has seen the greatest decline in the number of ATMs over the past five years. In 2017, there were still more than 8,000 machines scattered across the country. In 2021, there were already only 5900 left. And the future looks even bleaker...
"By the end of 2024, between agency closures and the implementation of the Batopin project, less than 4,000 devices should be available, including 2,240 CASH Batopin points," lamented Test-Achats in early March, which stressed that it would have to travel longer distances to access them.
The associations Financité, Test Achats and Okra called for at least 5,900 distributors, the number that Belgium would have by the end of 2021. The organizations also demanded that at least 95% of the population should have access to a distributor offering the basic assortment (withdrawal, depot...) within 2.5 km by road. They also demanded that each municipality should have at least one vending machine for every 1,500 inhabitants.
Source: trends.levif.be
