• Cash machines supply 63% of all cash to individuals. 95.7% of all withdrawals, and 96.7% of cash withdrawals were from free-to-use cash machines.
• The total of all withdrawals from cash machines reached £180 billion in 2006 – an average of 5,702. This showed the lowest growth rate so far, of just 4.5% on 2005.
• The number of ATM withdrawals increased by just 2% on the previous year, reaching 2.75 billion – an average of 87 withdrawals every second throughout the year.
• The average value of a withdrawal increased to £65.34, the highest yet seen.
• There were 60,428 cash machines by the end of 2006, an increase of 3.7% on 2005.
• 93.6% of all withdrawals were from ATMs owned by banks and building societies.
• The number of cash machines owned by independent ATM deployers (IADs) amounted to 27,003 by the end of 2006; this represented a 45% share of the market (just 1% up on 2005).
• The average number of cash withdrawals at each bank or building society owned machine was 78,046, compared with only 6,715 at each cash machine owned by an IAD.
• The average cash withdrawal value from a bank or building society cash machine was £66, compared with £50 from an IAD machine.
• There were 164.1 million cards in issue in the UK by the end of 2005 that could be used at a cash machine.
• Overall, there were 35.1 million regular users of cash machines in 2006, compared with 27.3 million in 1996. Each of these users made on average 78 withdrawals, taking out nearly £100 per week.
• It is expected that we will acquire 81% of our cash from cash machines in 2016.
• Cash machine withdrawals are expected to peak in 2010, at 2.9 billion.

History of Cash Machines

The world's first cash machine was introduced in the UK and installed in Enfield, north London on 27 June, 1967 by Barclays Bank and opened by Reg Varney of 'On the Buses' fame. The early machines had limited functions, dispensing fixed amounts of cash in exchange for tokens. In the early 1970s, magnetic stripe technology enabled plastic cards to be used to withdraw cash.

Recent Developments

• There has been a move in recent years to site machines away from bank and building society branches and place them in locations heavily frequented by customers, such as supermarkets and railway stations. Over half of the UK's cash machines are now at non-branch sites.
• All cards issued in the UK and bearing the Visa Plus or MasterCard Cirrus logos can be used in any cash machine worldwide that displays those logos.
• All the cash machine owners in the UK are members of the LINK network, which enables cardholders to use any of their machines. If a fee is charged for a cash withdrawal this will be displayed on the screen before the transaction takes place so the customer can decide whether or not to proceed.