Mastercard UK will pay shops to distribute cash
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Mastercard will pay shops to dispense cashMoney in physical form such as banknotes and coins. More to customers. From April 2020, local shops and businesses will earn a fee of 12 pence every time customers request cashbackA service whereby the customer pays electronically a higher amount to a retailer than the value of the purchase for goods and/or services and receives the difference in cash. It is also a reward system associated with credit card usage, whereby the consumer receives a percentage of the amount spent on the credit card. More from the till in association with a purchase on a MasterCard debit card.
The initiative is welcomed by consumer association Which?, at a time when access to cash in the UK is threatened by bank and ATM closures. Which? has revealed that a third of all bank and building society branches were closed down in the past five years. The UK has also seen a dramatic drop in the number of ATMs – from over 70,000 units in 2015 to 62,000 in 2018 – prompting consumer groups, lobbyists and organisations to take action. LINK, the UK’s largest ATM network, has announced that it will directly commission free-to-use ATMs in communities with poor access to cash.
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Mark Barnett, president of Mastercard in the UK, Ireland, Nordics and Baltics comments: “By leading this new cash back initiative we aim to encourage more shops to offer their customers the option of cash back at the point of sale. This isn’t a replacement for ATMs, but if we can add to the number of outlets where people can access cash, especially in areas without an ATM, it will be a valuable addition to the community for both consumers and local businesses.”
Why is Mastercard promoting access to cash ?
This may seem like a surprising move for a company which is better known for waging a war on cashThe expression refers to various policies by governments and campaigns run by other stakeholders, including providers of alternative payment instruments, aimed at reducing or at abolishing the use of cash altogether. This includes for instance the withdrawal of high‐denomination banknotes or restrictions on cash transactions as well as spreading misinformation on the usage and properties of cash. More.
But John Detrixhe from Quartz highlights several reasons why Mastercard is taking this initiative :
- The customer is required to make a debit card transaction, thereby generating revenue for MasterCard
- The majority of debit cards in the UK are Visa Debit which accounts for 97% of cards in issue (UK Finance). MasterCard is simply promoting its card over rival products.
- The 12p paid to the merchant is lower than the 20p paid to an ATM operator. This reduces the interchange fees for MasterCard issuers.
According to Ron Delnevo, executive director of ATMIA, if consumers get their cash from a shop instead of an ATM, this could increase the profit pressure on the UK’s ATM network, which is already shrinking.
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