The Access to Cash Bill stems from a recommendation made by the Retail Banking Review, published in November 2022.
The Review highlighted the continuing importance of cash in ensuring that people do not experience financial exclusion, that consumers can budget efficiently, and that there is a safety net in the event of electronic banking or the payments infrastructure being impacted by outages or cyber-attacks.
Minister McGrath commented, “The move to a more digitalised banking model, along with the costs involved in handling cash, have incentivised the traditional banks to move away from cash. Although cash usage has declined in recent years, and this decline accelerated during the pandemic, it is important to protect its role in our society and economy in the future. It is also very important that future changes are managed in a controlled, fair and transparent manner. In the absence of a legislative intervention, it is likely that over time we would see more and more ATMs removed from communities across the country and I do not want to see this happen.
In addition to protecting ATM availability, it is important that they are properly maintained and that the ‘out of service’ experience of consumers is kept to a minimum. Therefore, this Bill provides the Central Bank with regulation making powers in relation to matters such as reporting, setting service standards, and other matters such as denomination stocking.
Allied to access to cash, plans to ensure the ability to spend cash in certain settings are also being advanced. This Access to Cash legislation coincides with the National Payment Strategy, which is currently being developed by my Department. That Strategy will, among other things, look at the acceptance of cash in the future payments system. As part of the development of the National Payment Strategy, a public consultation is currently being undertaken and I would encourage everyone who has interest in the role of cash in our society to have their say as part of that process.
We have to ensure that people are not left behind and we must avoid the risk of financial exclusion. We must recognise the important role that cash continues to play in all our lives, and this is a role I am determined to protect.”
The Review also called on Department officials to require ATM operators to be authorised and supervised by the Central Bank and to provide the Central Bank with responsibility and powers to protect the resilience of the cash system - including the authorisation and supervision of cash-in-transit firms in respect of their cash handling activities and related financial services.
The General Scheme published today incorporates both of these elements in one piece of legislation. The legislation will for the first time regulate ATMs with the objective of improving operational standards and ensure good customer service.
In order to draft the General Scheme, the Department has engaged with the Central Bank and key players in the cash system in order to establish what the appropriate levels of access to cash are to ensure that any further evolution of the cash infrastructure will be managed in a fair, orderly, transparent and equitable manner for all stakeholders.
