New White Paper: Optimal Approaches to ATM Pooling
New white paper on ATM Pooling: a cost-effective solution for a new cash reality
Your access to the white paper [no email required]As concerns over the cost of living and access to cash drive higher cash use across Europe, a new white paper from Tietoevry Banking outlines optimal approaches for banks to take when considering ATM Pooling. The white paper explain the drivers towards ATM Pooling, how pooling works, its benefits – and the best approaches when considering a pooling arrangement with other banks.
Consumers and regulators keep cash alive, creating a challenge for banks
While cash use has declined steadily over the last twenty years across Europe, recent years have seen an upsurge in cash use across the continent. This has been driven by cost-of-living pressures leading consumers to prefer cash as a means of financial management, concerns over privacy, and governments mandating the right to access cash in law. In January 2025, the UK-based Nationwide Building Society reported that customers made 32.8 million cash withdrawals from its 1,260 ATMs the previous year, representing a 10% increase over 2023 – and the third year in a row to report an increase in cash use 1.
ATM Pooling is one of the most significant developments for the future of cash distribution and usage in European society.
For banks, this creates the challenge of maintaining ATM networks while containing costs in their ATMs and cash management businesses, and continuing to develop value-add services for consumers. In their new white paper, Tietoevry Banking argue that ATM Pooling is one of the most significant developments for the future of cash distribution and usage in European society.
ATM pooling arrangements involve banks coming together to form a consortium that operates under a single brand and shared infrastructure. This model is particularly attractive in times of economic uncertainty, inflation, policy shifts, and geopolitical tensions, as it enables centralized cash distribution services and more efficient ATM network management.
Industry research demonstrates that ATM pooling can significantly reduce operational costs. According to European Payments Consulting, such arrangements can lower the cost of operating a broad-based ATM network by up to 40% 2. Similarly, McKinsey reports that consolidating ATM resources can yield cost reductions of up to 35% 3.
Important Context on Cost Savings
It is important to note that these figures are drawn from markets with full implementation of ATM pooling—such as the Netherlands and Sweden—where banks previously operated large, overlapping ATM networks. Actual savings will vary by country, market structure, and the degree of pooling (full versus partial implementation). In markets with less overlap or only partial pooling, the realized cost reductions may be lower.
New white paper – ATM Pooling
The new study from Tietoevry Banking outlines the broad-based benefits of ATM Pooling, including shared compliance costs, centralized management, increased client access to cash, and the optimization of resources. Tietoevry Banking also discuss challenges and success criteria, from the political dimension of cash access mandates, through to the practicalities of getting competitors to work together, handling on-us transactions and more.
As an innovator and leader in ATM Pooling arrangements since their inception in 2010, Tietoevry Banking draw on experiences in Sweden, the Netherlands, and elsewhere to create case studies that demonstrate the benefits of ATM Pooling using real-life data. The new white paper also includes recommendations for the best practices banks should adopt when considering ATM Pooling arrangements, from where to place ATMs for maximum benefit through to the importance of a flexible business model, strong collaboration agreements between partner banks in a pooling consortium, and more.
About Tietoevry Banking and our ATM Services
With more than 400 customers in 64 countries and over 3,500 employees globally, Tietoevry Banking has been consistently ranked as the leading provider of ATM services in the Nordics and Baltics. Now the company is bringing this deep experience of creating and managing ATM Pooling arrangements to banks, credit unions and building societies across Europe, helping them to balance rising consumer demand for cash and government mandates with the need to develop profitable, value-add services. Constantly innovating, Tietoevry’s concept of the future for ATMs include their evolution into full-service financial kiosks, the increased adoption of AI-driven predictive maintenance routines for ATMs, the integration of biometric security factors and new forms of verification to ATM units, and developing pooled ATM infrastructures run by independent networks.
To learn more about our full suite of ATM Services, visit our offering page:
References
1 Nationwide PLC, 07 January 2025: “Cash use rises for a third year” https://www.nationwidemediacentre.co.uk/news/cash-usage-rises-for-third-year-as-brits-continue-to-value-money-in-their-pockets
2 European Payment Advisors. (2025). "ATM Pooling in Europe." https://europeanpaymentadvisors.com/atm-pooling-is-establishing-itself-in-europe/
3 McKinsey & Company. (2018). "Attacking the cost of cash." https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/attacking-the-cost-of-cash
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