Payment Choice Alliance - Latest News Feed

24/7 Free-To-Use ATMs A MUST In EVERY Community - And In ALL The Required 1200 Banking Hubs!

The pressure builds on Scotlands two dismal banks - Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Scotland - and on LINK Scheme Ltd, whose attempts to defend the indefensible are, quite frankly, pathetic.

This is a brilliant in depth report by Martin Williams - Scotlands Financial/Business Journalist of the Year - in the The Herald Scotland, with invaluable insights from Adam Stachura at Age Scotland.

The Scottish Banks are trying to dodge their responsibilities to the Scottish public - their CUSTOMERS - and are leaving it to other organisations, such as Post Office Ltd and Mutuals like Nationwide Building Society, to save communities around Scotland.

IT IS A DISGRACE.

Some gent from LINK Scheme Ltd has the cheek to say “If any community thinks it has a problem, it can contact LINK directly and we can take a closer look."

Why the hell should the public have to appeal to LINK Scheme Ltd?

If LINK Scheme Ltd can’t see the problems throughout Scotland themselves, they are NOT competent to meet the cash needs of the Scottish - OR UK - public.

The Payment Choice Alliance YouGov survey has revealed that the vast majority of UK adults completely reject the idea that post office counters - and, by implication , Banking Hubs without ATMs - can provide them with convenient access to cash in their local communities.

24/7 ATMs are what the public WANT and NEED.

LINK Scheme Ltd has overseen the ripping out of over 40% of the UKs free-to-use 24/7 ATMs - over 20,000 ATMs - in recent years.

That decimination of ATM services and convenient cash access has directly led to a reduction in cash use, which LINK Scheme Ltd would have us believe is a “natural phenomenon”…

The Scottish - and UK - public have had enough of the prevarication and procrastination.

They WILL retain 24/7 ATM cash access in EVERY community AND they WILL get the minimum of 1200 Bankimg Hubs - with 24/7 ATMs and full face-to-face banking advice services - required to replace the 7000 plus UK bank branches lost since 2015 alone.

WE STAND WITH THE PUBLIC.

Source: heraldscotland.com/news/26171439.calls-protect-cash-scotland-loses-banks-atms

New Survey Confirms 76% Of UK Public View Local Bank Branches As Important!

An excellent article by Zoe Wood in the The Guardian.

As the Payment Choice Alliance has highlighted before, Lloyds Bank has been particularly active in destroying genuine face-to-face customer service by closing their branches. Surrey outside the M25 has lost at least 11 Lloyds Bank in recent years, with only three remaining - and the branch in Camberley has probably only been kept because it also services customers from the immediately neighbouring counties of Berkshire and Hampshire…

As the article notes, Banking Hubs COULD replace lost bank branches - but NOT if there are only going to be 350 of them, the paltry number promised by 2029.

The Payment Choice Alliance has confirmed that there needs to be a minimum of 1200 fully equipped Banking Hubs, open 6 days a week, all with 24/7 cash access via ATMs - and with full face-to-face financial services advice from staff trained in all the matters of concern to the public.

The current “one banker a day” from each major bank is a pretence of providing genuine face-to-face banking.

The Payment Choice Alliance YouGov survey mentioned in the article found that over 50% of UK adults want to enjoy the choice of having ALL their banking needs provided for in a local branch - that’s over 30 MILLION PEOPLE - and over 70% want to be able to do at least some of their financial services business in a local branch.

We will be sharing our survey findings with Richard Lloyd OBE, Chair of the Access to Banking review, who is carrying out his work on behalf of HM Treasury.

What the UK public WANT and NEED is being ignored by the so-called High Street Banks -that MUST change, starting NOW, in 2026.

Source: theguardian.com/money/2026/jun/06/bank-customers-closures-app-branches-high-street

Ron Delnevo talks to James Cannon about bank branch closures on BBC Radio Surrey

Ron Delnevo talks to James Cameron on BBC Radio Surrey about disgraceful bank branch closures - and tells James what the British public can do about it!

Source: youtube.com/watch?v=zFb0FUIKG2U

At Last - Although A Decade Late - A Welcome Investigation Into The UK Community Banking Crisis.

Our Chair Ron Delnevo had a good discussion about banking with Henry Reilly on London Broadcasting Company - or LBC, if you prefer!

Henry and Ron were discussing HM Treasury appointing Richard Lloyd OBE to investigate the negative impact of bank branch closures and to recommend remedies.

The Payment Choice Alliance welcomes this initiative, though convinced that it is more than a little late.

Two bank branches have been lost to the British public every single day since 2015. Investigating the POTENTIAL impact should have been done BEFORE the banks started their massive closure programmes.

Anyway, Ron told Henry yesterday that he had informed the Treasury several years ago that a MINIMUM of 1200 fully-equipped Banking Hubs would be required, NOT the mere 350 currently promised by 2029.

1200 Banking Hubs would basically cover every community in the UK with 5000 or more residents that has been left without a bank branch.

By “fully equipped”, we mean Banking Hubs MUST have 24/7 ATMs - 95% + currently don’t - and comprehensive face-to-face banking advice covering, at a minimum:

Life Milestones & Borrowing
Financial Difficulty
Estate Administration
Security & Fraud
Account Administration

Ron told Henry that Richard Lloyd OBE was being given less than six months to talk to a huge number of people and to examine the impact of the lack of bank branches on thousands of communities.

The Payment Choice wishes Richard Lloyd OBE well in his very difficult assignment - and, of course, looks forward to giving him invaluable input.

Source: youtube.com/watch?v=iRh7Y9U3d3o

EVERY Community Needs 24/7 Access To Cash!

With bank branches disappearing at the rate of two a day for the last ten years - and ATMs being ripped out even faster - retailers are becoming more important than ever in supplying cash to the British public.

And no retailer is more important than Tesco.

Tesco now have more branches than the total operated by the UK’s Big Five banks. And most of those Tesco’s branches have busy ATMs, machines which may soon be delivering 20% of ALL the cash used by the British public as they live their daily lives.

And the GREAT news?

THEY ARE ALL FREE TO USE.

Many communities now have Tesco stores but no bank branches. Some of the cash issued to the public by Tesco ATMs of course gets spent in their own stores but, in communities up and down the UK, a lot of that cash circulates to ALL the local businesses. Prosperity for all, due to the presence of a Tesco 24/7 ATM, delivering cash to the British public, where and when they want it.

And this is what EVERY community in the UK MUST have - 24/7 convenient access to cash!

Source: youtube.com/watch?v=vJnkZ1AoSMg

Laughing “Cashless” To Extinction!

The best and funniest Anti Digital Domination -and pro cash - video we have ever seen! Amidst the humour, the video raises many questions - including should “smartphones” be banned from pubs as well as schools? It would mean more conversation- and less cheating at Pub Quizes!

Anyway, have a good laugh HM Treasury, Rt Hon Rachel Reeves and Lucy Rigby KC MP - then get your act together and BAN “CASHLESS”!

CHEERS!

Source: youtube.com/watch?v=HqB59QNcFFc

Ron Delnevo talks to Henry Reilly at LBC about Banking Hubs, 24/7 ATMs and Banking Services

Ron Delnevo tells Henry Reilly at LBC that a MINIMUM of 1200 Banking Hubs are required, all with 24/7 ATMs and FULL face-to-façe Banking Services.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRh7Y9U3d3o

Putin Has Russians Rushing To Return To Rubles!

And it is not just Russians!

EVERYONE returns to cash - because it ALWAYS works.

Without cash, each of us is really simply an insignificant peripheral of the digital systems that seek to monitor and ultimately control our every move.

Putin is one of the trio of Dictators who are seeking to divide this planet between them.

If you don’t know who the other two are, you really need to stay in more and think a bit.

Dictators LOVE digital because it gives them the power to switch off those who dare to disagree.

Cash is a pilar of democracy.

It will NEVER be taken from us.

Source: japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/05/06/russians-cash-internet-blackouts

“Cashless” Is DEAD In Sweden!

Brilliant news from Sweden!

The Swedish government has submitted a bill to parliament that requires grocery stores and pharmacies to accept cash.

And why?

Because the Government has realised that a “cashless” Sweden cannot be fully inclusive or completely resilient.

The same, of course, is absolutely true of the UK!

Time for Keir Starmer and Rt Hon Rachel Reeves to discover the wisdom and good sense of the Swedish Government and to bring in legislation making the acceptance of cash obligatory in the UK.

This will not cause an issue for the majority of businesses in the UK. A LINK Scheme survey recently revealed that 77% of UK businesses continue to accept cash, although that % is decreasing fast.

Far fewer businesses in Sweden currently accept cash BUT the Swedish Government does not consider that an obstacle for their legislation.

The British Government clearly has even less reason to be concerned in this respect!

So just get on with it, Prime Minister!

The British public are growing VERY impatient with your procrastination - and so are we!

Source: euractiv.com/news/cash-free-sweden-backpedals-on-banknotes

Cash Withdrawal & Deposits At 7000 New ATMs In France- Why Not The UK?

Although 7000 free-to-use 24/7 ATMs may well not be enough, this move by the French banks in many ways shames their UK counterparts.

The French banks know full well that ATMs are the only way of delivering convenient 24/7 cash services, in both urban and rural areas.

They also know that deposit facilities are vital to the French public and businesses, so the 7000 ATMs installed will accept cash and cheque deposits from customers of all the participating banks.

Meantime, the UK banks managed in 2023 to persuade a misguided HM Treasury to issue a Cash Access Statement that effectively wrote ATMs out of the script. The banks plan that limited-hour post office counter services are to be the main cash services access points going forward, until the time - around 2030 - when banks can end all their funding of cash services.

This plan also means that we will not see very many ATMs that accept deposits from every bank. The UK banks don’t want to invest in making ATMs very useful for the British public and businesses, since they intend to rip all those ATMs out.

Keir Starmer and The Labour Party Government know all of this. As do the Bank of England, Financial Conduct Authority and Payment Systems Regulator.

Why?

Because we have told them.

Source: connexionfrance.com/practical/what-are-new-cash-services-atms-in-france/783973