IT 
ES 
Shared infrastructure like ATM networks or branches can help maintain physical access to cash and financial services in communities that are at risk of losing their local bank branch or ATM.
As we know from our work with Batopin, the ATM pooling initiative for Belgian banks, shared banking infrastructure can enable investment in modern self-service banking solutions that are better suited to customers.
And yet, some approaches to shared banking seem to be driven by cost controls alone. For example, the slow roll out and limited services within the UK’s Shared Banking Hubs offers a basic service that does not replace the quality of local services that have been lost from the closure of all bank branches in a community.
To understand how banks can embrace the shared banking concept we worked with ATM Marketplace, the world’s only site dedicated exclusively to news and information about the ATM industry, focusing on payment technology, banking trends and regulatory issues. They polled their unique database of 4.000 international financial institutions to find out what they are doing to ensure widespread access to cash and if they already use or are willing to adopt a shared banking infrastructure.
Shared ATM Networks & Branch Hubs Both Appeal
The research “Transforming Access to Cash services: is shared banking the future?” which was carried out from March to October 2024, highlights the contradictory forces that banks must resolve as they plan for the next three years. While cost reduction is key, greater sales growth, CX improvement and cross channel integration are the top priorities, reveals the study.
In striking the right balance between these competing priorities, shared infrastructure is a business model that a good proportion of interviewed banks are considering. Indeed, 41 percent of respondents are considering or planning some form of shared banking infrastructure now or in the next three years.
For shared ATM infrastructure 1 in 2 of the respondents say making access to cash available in a wider range of locations, lower operating costs and ATM optimization are the prime benefits expected.
Self-service technology and automation would appear to be critical to the success of these plans. Cash and cheque deposits with recycling option is the customer –facing offering that most banks (55%) would offer in case of shared banking hubs, in addition to withdrawal, followed by bills payments ( 50%) and integration with mobile devices ( 41%).
Maintaining Strong Brand Identity Key
As they transform their physical banking channels, banks seem to be becoming more concerned about how these changes could adversely affect their connections with their customers in a competitive market for financial services. For example, the research reveals that while cost controls are imperative, 77% of respondents would like to offer their customers an experience consistent with their brand identity in case of a shared ATM or branch. Could this be evidence of a realisation that exiting communities is affecting their brand profile?
Findings from this study suggest the future of retail banking is not simply one of branch closures and cutbacks in ATM networks. There seems to be an appetite for banks to want to think more creatively about how they maintain their physical presence for financial services. Perhaps an indication of how much more fluid the future could be is how the study reveals that digital-only banks may be open to joining forces with other banks to be part of shared branch and ATM infrastructure – 64% of digital-only bank would consider the possibility of offering branches in collaboration with other banks and 57% would consider the possibility of offering ATMs in collaboration with other banks.
You can read more about the findings:
