Albanians are depositing money from the ATM more than last year
2023-12-05 12:11:34
TiranaPost
According to Bank of Albania statistics, for the third quarter, users of the banking sector made about 199,000 automatic deposits at ATMs, from 188,000 in the previous quarter.
For the entire 9-month 2023, the total number of deposits has reached 555 thousand. The 9-month figures have approached the levels of the whole year 2022, when a total of about 576 thousand deposits were reported.
The average monthly number of ATM deposits has reached almost 62 thousand, from 48 thousand operations that were reported on average every month for 2022.
The increase in transactions is also significant in terms of value. At the end of the 9th month, cash deposits at ATMs were worth 27.4 billion ALL, or an average of about three billion ALL every month. This figure is increasing significantly, with 22% more compared to the 2022 average.
The number and value of deposit transactions at ATM terminals is increasing for the sixth year in a row. This growth is supported by the continuous expansion of the equipment infrastructure that enables this type of service.
Even the number of ATMs with the function of depositing physical money is increasing, testifying to the increasing investments of the banking sector to automate the provision of banking services.
The data of the Bank of Albania show that the number of ATM devices enabling cash deposits at the end of the 9th month of 2023 reached 364, with an increase of 19% since the beginning of this year. Approximately 39% of the total number of ATMs in the country offer cash deposit services.
The addition of ATMs with a cash deposit function is an important development for facilitating the provision of banking services. Albania remains an economy with a high use of cash in economic transactions. This creates the need for periodic cash deposits in bank accounts, and transactions with cash in the cash register remain one of the main reasons for the flow of customers to bank branches.
The automation of this service through ATMs affects the reduction of flows, the reduction of queues and the use of bank branches only for those cases where the provision of the service by the staff is necessary.
At the end of September, the Albanian banking sector offered service through 944 active ATMs, increasing by 10.4% since the beginning of the year. The number of ATMs had continuously decreased in the period 2015-2019, especially due to the decrease in the number of branches, but also due to the decrease in the total number of commercial banks.
But, starting from 2020, even under the impetus of the pandemic, banks increased the number of ATMs (mainly located in environments outside branches), in order to facilitate the flow of operations at the counters. At the same time, the addition of ATMs is being accompanied by updating the technology and services offered by them./E.Shehu
*This article was published by Monitor Magazine and reposted by Tiranapost.al
