Seán Haughey
Ceist:23. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for Finance his plans to extend the powers of the Central Bank in relation to the regulation of ATMs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14267/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 10 April 2024
Ceisteanna (23, 39)
Willie O'Dea
Ceist:39. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Finance how he proposes to protect the role of cash in our society and economy in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14269/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
I propose to take Questions Nos. 23 and 39 together.
The Department of Finance's Retail Banking Review, published in November 2022, concluded that cash, despite a decline in its usage, remains an important element of the payments system and the broader economy and it is essential that cash remains readily available to customers through ATMs and other means across the country.
The Review recommended that the Department of Finance should develop Access to Cash legislation and prepare heads of a bill with the initial objective of developing criteria that would secure access to cash at about the levels prevailing in December 2022. It would also provide for such criteria to be amended appropriately in future as and when cash usage declines further.
Arising from this recommendation, on the 23rd of January, I published the General Scheme of the Access to Cash Bill 2024, which will establish a framework to provide that any future evolution of the cash infrastructure will be managed in a fair, orderly, transparent, and equitable manner.
The legislation will allow me to prescribe regional requirements for the minimum numbers of ATMs per 100,000 people, the proportion of the population that must be no more than 10 km from an ATM, and the proportion of the population that must be no more than 10 km from a “cash service point”.
The Bill will require entities, whose share of current accounts and household deposits exceed percentages I will prescribe, to be responsible for maintaining access to cash levels. The designated entities, as they will be known, will, initially, be the three main retail banks.
The Bill also provides for the remedying of “local deficiencies.” These are locations within a Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS3) region where particular difficulties arise in accessing cash. The Central Bank will assess such cases and, where warranted, may require designated entities to address the issue. The Central Bank will prepare and publish guidance on local deficiencies prior to implementation of this provision.
The Retail Banking 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.
Although ATM deployers are required to comply with various security requirements set by the Private Security Authority, the operation of ATMs is not currently regulated by the Central Bank. As a result, there are no codes or regulations governing service standards, including hours of operation, denomination stocking, outages and maximum repair times. Reporting is voluntary.
There is also no requirement to give notice of decisions to close or install ATMs or indeed of a decision to exit the business or enter it. The Access to Cash Bill will address these matters.
The Drafting of the Access to Cash Bill is a priority, and it is being progressed as such. I would like to highlight my appreciation for the input of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and Taoiseach, who recently and promptly published their pre-legislative scrutiny report on the Access to Cash Bill.
The report of the Committee is welcomed, and the recommendations therein will be considered as the drafting of the Bill continues.