AIB going cashless around Kerry.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119377460#Comment_119377460

22.4% isn't that much higher than 20%

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1095019/cash-use-in-ireland/

handlemaster

The bank is doing the right thing moving with the times. Better to make changes for the betterment of the business than listen to populist keyboard nonsense. I dont think people use cash all that much and there is a cost to it

astrofool

Their mistake was announcing it and doing it all at once.

It will be done slowly instead and the same endpoint will be reached.

Cash is going the same way as cheques and will become niche.

From reading this thread I'm starting to think these yokes are still used in Kerry

jahalpin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119376152#Comment_119376152

The banks have always been interested in their shareholder returns , that is the whole purpose of them

A public bank isn't a very good idea as the public sector isn't known for efficentcy , there is only a certain amount of income to go around and wasting it on a project like this isn't a good use of the limited funds

Most countries that do have public banks have a much higher population and higher effective tax rates

The high interest rate on mortgages here is caused by the extremely high level of legal protection given to non-payors which allows them to stay in a house even if they haven't paid the mortgage for 10 years, if you stopped paying the mortgage in most countries you would be out of the house within a few weeks

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119377573#Comment_119377573

Don't think cash is going out of fashion too soon. Local shop here - that's all they take and there's many more like it.

Was struck to hear the Dept Finance knew of this before announcement and didn't think it'd raise much of a kerfuffle. Which just shows how out of touch many civil & public servants at a higher level in these departments are. And they basically run the state from Dublin..

You are right though I suspect in that services will just be withdrawn more piece by piece now. Presume they'll leave ATMs in place though.

PatrickDoherty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119377524#Comment_119377524

I believe its higher from working in the industry but that's just from what im seeing.

Even if its 22.4% thats Billions of Euro being used a year lets not pretend were talking peanuts here.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119377615#Comment_119377615

How many people even have cards with raised numbers needed for these things?

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119382031#Comment_119382031

Your beliefs are likely clouded by working in the cash industry. You would be unaware of how many contactless and card transactions there are

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119382319#Comment_119382319

All new debit cards this year from AIB have raised numbers. I asked why and nobody in the branch had a clue.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119382326#Comment_119382326

Of course there's a huge volume of contactless and card payments but that doesn't negate the fact that billions are also circulated in cash. I don't know why people are so fixated with one payment method versus another. Each have their uses and there's no reason why they can't coexist.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119382319#Comment_119382319

My old current account (KBC), new (Credit Union) and credit card (BOI) all have raised numbers. I've had to use a card impressor relatively recently for car hire at a regional airport.

UB and Revolut are the only ones I know that definitely don't do raised numbers.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119382375#Comment_119382375

I have 4 in my wallet right now without raised numbers (one has no numbers at all). I've only used a card impressor once about 15 years ago at a b&b somewhere in NI.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119382356#Comment_119382356

Im just weirded out by the near religious fixation some people have with cash.

Its especially amusing that the guys who's job is cash reckons that because he sees more cash every day, that the proportion of cash transactions is higher than the proportion arrived at by an analysis of available data.

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119382375#Comment_119382375

My avant credit card it is just written on the back

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119382393#Comment_119382393

Think it was 9 years ago for me - relative compared to how I hadn't used one ever before that, and have had payment cards since the 1990s. Had actually got another car booked from the same airport in February but the weather caused the flight to be cancelled entirely!

I suspect they would write the number on instead if you gave them a flat card / would need you to give them the number if its an un-numbered card.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119382401#Comment_119382401

To be honest, and I have no particular skin in the game, you seem more fixated. Do what suits you and let others do as suits them. Not everybody's daily experience is the same as yours.

HerrKapitan

Typical boards. Another 'conspiracy tin foil hat conspiracy' coming true, but when true dubbed as a 'great idea, I always supported it'.

This was just testing the water. Next and final time that they try it, it will not be the via the banks, it will be an EU directive. That's why the minister of finance / government let it play out.

Cabaal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119382884#Comment_119382884

You've not proved any conspiracy as true 🤣

This was just AIB following what BOI already planned to do years back.

BOI wanted to make 100 branches cashless, people got outraged and in the end over 80 branches just closed down completely because they were left with no other choice.

In the next 1-3 years AIB will likely just close branches because they have not been allowed do an alternative option.

All of this isn't some crazy mad conspriacy, its simply lack of demand.

More people are using cards for payments both in person and also online and now you can easily transfer money from one account to another without going into a branch like you had to years ago. Cheque's are less and less of a thing.

I remember a day when buying on ebay involved me going to a bank to get a bank draft, now I can easily pay via paypal. It's also extremely rare somebody gives me a cheque and although I have a cheque book I've not had to use it for years because different suppliers and tradespeople are more than happy to take bank transfers.

Bottom line is much less people go into banks then 30 years ago and due to this its costly to have branches open which are simply not getting the footfall anymore. It's a case of use it or loose it.

It's all fine and well moaning about a branch closing but if you use online banking to pay a bill, transfer funds or even just to check your balance then you are part of the reason for the closing. Stop using online banking :)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119375554#Comment_119375554

Don't tell me that the AIB are planning to stop building social houses?

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119383288#Comment_119383288

Of course.

All banks across the World are complaining because of the Fintechs and they can't make as much profit. The excuse now is that the fintechs don't have the legacy of branches etc and all the staff/expenses it costs to run them.

KBC already provide a service in Ireland with zero branches. They did open a few office spots but all you can do in them is buy additional services, like open saving accounts. They will not accept cash.

Covid has pushed the withdraw of cash forward by about 5 years probably. I expect in next 3 years that cash will be gone, branches will be shut but you will have KBC like office spaces you can go into to talk to people about mortgages etc. As mentioned above the overhead on insuracne/cyber security/IT etc is massive just for cash points, let alone a branch.

PatrickDoherty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119382326#Comment_119382326

Your 80% card payments is grand and all but it doesnt change the fact that right now and for the near to medium future people are spending fortunes in Cash annually so I dont agree with banks going cashless for that reason, 22% sounds like nothing to you but 22% of a few billion is significant to me.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119385748#Comment_119385748

If these people are sending a fortune on cash, what do they need the bank for?

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119383288#Comment_119383288

How did you manage to use a bank draft with eBay? I was using PayPal on eBay more than 20 years ago.

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119385993#Comment_119385993

Uhh... to avoid keeping it in mattresses?

The message I'm seeing here is there actually is a very large number of cash transactions. Banks, who have a vested interest in reducing such, may be lowballing the actual numbers.

PatrickDoherty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119385993#Comment_119385993

You're clutching at straws now, you've tried to tell us Billions in cash in circulation is outdated and finished and you also recommend storing cash in the house pmsl.

Cabaal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119386004#Comment_119386004

Mid - late 1990's when Paypal didn't exist, didn't own a credit card so thats how I paid sellers and they were fine with that back then.

It was a pain though 🤣

Ebay didn't really paypal until early 2000's

Kaybaykwah

The big question is how the street beggars will survive. I don’t see them wielding plastic anytime soon.

patmahe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119388977#Comment_119388977

I know its not quite the same thing but I saw an article about a seller of the big issue getting himself a card reader because not as many people carry cash anymore so its coming. Lets face it eventually all transactions will be done using a phone/watch type device. But for the older generation for now there needs to be the option of cash, its not fair to expect an 80 year old born and rared in rural Ireland to go cashless and the regulator should tell the banks that IMO.

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119389015#Comment_119389015

My parents are in their late 70's and rural Ireland, born & breed.

They use a credit card for everything. They use an iPhone etc. Some people think our older people are idiots and not able to use technology which is not true.

I am not saying some people struggle with it but the way people go on you would swear older people haven't a clue. Like my wife has an iPhone for years but in reality an old Nokia with Watsapp is all she needs :-)

Cabaal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119389102#Comment_119389102

Exactly this!

Some people seem to think everyone over 60 is stupid!

I know plenty of people in their 60, 70 and 80's who use cards and online banking. Sometimes all it takes is a person having the patients to show how cards work!

patmahe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119389431#Comment_119389431

I know not everybody is stupid and I don't think I used the word stupid, but some people (of all ages but more prevalent in older generations) just don't understand/want to understand tech is my point. My Dad is 78, very tech savvy and can do most online financial things, my mother on the other hand relies on him to do all of that and wouldn't have the same level of interest.

The point I was making was if you've always dealt with cash and are not tech savvy your local branch going cashless is going to have a big impact.

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119389626#Comment_119389626

I used the word stupid.

Anyway I have yet to see any technology advancement without people saying XYZ will never be able to use it. Then it happens, people adapt and the World moves on

Kaybaykwah

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119389724#Comment_119389724

Well yes, and besides that, you acknowledge the price you pay for the item you purchase and then you don't need to count your change, which simplifies transactions. The value of currency is virtual, it isn’t based on coin or paper.

1874

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119383288#Comment_119383288

It's all fine and well moaning about a branch closing but if you use online banking to pay a bill, transfer funds or even just to check your balance then you are part of the reason for the closing. Stop using online banking :)

Well thats a backwards explanation, customers were pushed Completely towards online transfers predominantly/only BY THE BANKS because thats all banks want to do. For a long time I preferred to do most of my transactions online when it became available, this was useful to me, but I still went to the bank occasionally as I had a need to do so, BUT Banks themselves limited the things you could do in the Branch, in particular enquiries or interactions outside of what an in branch ATM can do. Even in branch ATM's at least have more features than privately run ATMs in service stations, such as lodgements of cash or occasionally Drafts.

You'd think people turned their backs on in-branch transactions, when they basically had no option, because banks themselves reduced the options to carry out transactions in the Branches themselves. In Branch ATMs are useful, so not only were Banks getting rid of Branches, they dont even want to provide access to ATMs, so if they wont even provide that service, then what the flying fcuk do they actually do? other than hold and use our money? If they don't provide the services I use them for, then why simply wouldn't people move to An Post or CU for their personal banking? because thats the main reason I'm with my Bank. One posterstated in reply that the PO and CU's could turn a profit where the Banks couldn't? If its profitable for private operators of ATMs and potentially there is profitability for the PO and CU's why is it that there isn't for Banks? Its not because there isnt profit, there just isnt enough, and no matter home much there is, it will never be enough.

Also, Its my recollection that PTSB went down during Covid (possibly it was just before), all services, online, cards and the mobile app were affected, as I have a PTSB account, I also had my legacy BoI account so I wasn't stuck in terms of getting cash or making payments, but I ensured I got some extra cash to have on hand in the event the problem spread, there seems to be a fixation with ONLY having a tap/card option, whats next? they wont even provide physical cards? With such a possibility with services/systems going down, having some branches and some Bank specific ATM only locations (not just service station ATM's) is a better option for the customer to me (as if Banks cared about that). Access to cash makes sense to me, having only one option and no back-up may be cheaper for the Banks but isn't necessarily the best option for the customers.