Fewer cash machines in Belgium as banks cut costs

Cash dispensers in Belgium are disappearing at a rate of three a week, as banks look to cut costs following a rise in card and smartphone payments.

According to new figures from the Belgian financial sector federation Febelfin, 465 ATMs have been taken out of service in the past three years. The country now has 8,235 - one machine for about every 1,400 people.

And it is not just a problem in rural areas - where local tourism is often reliant on visitors having access to cash. Brussels finance minister Guy Vanhengel said in an answer to a parliamentary question last week that 227 machines had been lost in the Brussels region alone.

Bruzz reports that shopkeepers in downtown Brussels have complained of a lack of ATMs around the Grand-Place. Banks in the Brussels region pay a tax of about €1,000 per machine per year to have an ATM on the public walkway.

Municipalities also charge an annual tax which reportedly varies from €100 in Brussels-City to €5,000 in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe.

In January this year, many supermarkets across Belgium removed cash machines from their premises because of new rules on the transport of money. The new legislation requires stores to pay a security firm to fill up cash machines instead of shop staff handling the banknotes themselves.