Cash withdrawals from ATMs predicted to rise to £16.5 billion this December

The volume and value of transactions at UK cash machines are expected to break all previous records this Christmas. On the basis of transactions seen to date, the UK ATM network LINK is forecasting record cash withdrawals from ATMs of over £16.5 billion this December.

Edwin Latter, Card Scheme Director said,

"Christmas is always the busiest time of the year for cash withdrawals and this year looks no exception.

On the busiest shopping days, we expect over 1 million LINK transactions per hour, with around half a million pounds dispensed per minute.

By contrast, January is the quietest month for cash withdrawals, with amounts withdrawn 15% - 20% lower than in December."

Notes for Editors

• Industry figures predict a fall in spending on credit cards this Christmas, but increased use of debit cards and cash. ( www.apacs.org.uk/downloads/Christmas%20spending%20figures%2024.11.05.pdf )
• Cash withdrawals are set to be 5% higher this December than in December 2004.
• Cash machines are at their busiest at lunch time, with 13 minutes past one almost always the busiest minute of the day for the LINK national ATM network.
• Using a cash machine is a very safe way of withdrawing cash and accessing banking services. Cash machine fraud in the first half of 2005 was 22% lower than in 2004 - at £28.8 million. When using cash machines, risk of fraud can be further minimised by:
  
  
  • shielding the key pad to avoid anyone seeing you input your PIN;
  • not using the machine if you see anything unusual about the machine or if there are signs of tampering, but reporting this to the bank immediately.

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Information for Editors

LINK Interchange Network Ltd is the Company that provides electronic transaction management services on behalf of the UK 's largest financial institutions and other commercial organisations. The Company manages the Card Scheme and provides the technical and commercial services, including arranging settlement, which make ATM sharing possible on the significant scale now seen. The LINK ATM network is the world's busiest shared ATM network with over 55,000 cash machines deployed and over 101 million LINK-enabled cards in issue. The Company processed and settled over 2.5 billion shared transactions during 2004. It also manages transactions for the basic bank accounts that form part of the Post Office's universal banking services programme and has implemented an ATM prepay top up service on behalf of mobile phone operators. The Company is pursuing opportunities to use its proven, secure and reliable network infrastructure to support the development and implementation of wider transaction management services including the aforementioned services.