AIB has announced that it will not proceed with its initial plans to turn a further of its 70 bank branches cashless in the coming months.
The move, which the bank announced earlier this week following an internal review, caused widespread fury among the public. We asked That’s Farming readers to share their opinions, which you can read in this news article.
Earlier this week, the bank announced that it would remove notes, coins, cheques, foreign exchange, or bank drafts drop safes, night safes and external ATMs from 70 outlets.
It said that some of its branches would no longer offer cash and cheque services at the counter or through machines inside the branch.
However, it has since reversed this decision, as an official statement on Friday, July 22nd, 2022, confirms.
Cashless Branches
A spokesperson for AIB said:
“In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of digital banking services and a decline in branch visits and cash usage.”
“In AIB’s case, there are 2.9 million daily digital interactions compared with 35,000 customer branch visits.”
“There has been a 36% decline in cash withdrawals from ATMs and a 50% fall in cheque usage over the past five years.”
“AIB has also seen a fall of almost 50% in branch over-the-counter teller transactions, while mobile and online payments have increased by 85% in that same timeframe.”
“It was in the context of this evolving banking environment and the opportunity to enhance its long-standing relationship with An Post that AIB took the decision to remove cash services from 70 of its branches.”
“However, recognising the customer and public unease that this has caused, AIB has decided not to proceed with the proposed changes to its bank services.”
“The bank continues to retain its 170-strong branch network in its entirety and will also continue to offer banking services through its relationship with An Post at its 920 post offices nationwide,” the spokesperson concluded.
