JEFF PRESTRIDGE: Cash in on the super ATMs of the future By Jeff Prestridge for The Mail on Sunday Updated: 21:57 BST, 8 June 2024 e-mail View comments Although cash machines, post offices and new-style community hubs will never replace good old-fashioned bank branches, we must accept that the banking landscape of yesteryear will never return. It's gone for good, smashed to smithereens. Where service with a smile (occasionally, with a frown) once dominated, machines now rule the roost.
And not even a resurgent Labour, promising the country the world and more besides, will be able to change this after – as widely expected – it becomes our new government on July 5. While Labour is expected to include in its manifesto, published this week, a promise to ensure face-to-face banking advice is available on every high street, it's difficult to see how this will be fulfilled. For a start, it is likely to require amendments to existing legislation.
This is because the current rules, introduced last year after a tortuous delay, are built around safeguarding access to cash, not advice. Would such legislative fiddling be a priority for an incoming Labour government? I'm not sure. It's got bigger fish to fry.
I'm also sure that the banks would fight tooth and nail to resist any new rules that forced them to spend more money on high street banking. Their focus is now on digitalising banking services. Innovation: Traditional ATMs only accept deposits from customers of the bank whose name.
