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In the village of Juodupė, near the border with Latvia, residents like cash, but there is no ATM, the closest ATM is only 16 kilometers away, in Rokiškis. Black people complain that it is too inconvenient.
“It is still possible in the store, but it is very difficult. It takes a lot of coordination if you are only driving to collect money. This problem has been around for a long time. The city may not need cash, but the village urgently needs it. “.
“The store is a bit refined, but I never use things like that. The money must be real to me. “
“You can withdraw money at the store. Some people go to Rokiškin, but smaller amounts are available here.”
“Before, he promised that there would be when the factory was working, he wanted to build Vilnius Bank, he did not build and there is nothing.”
The number of ATMs and bank branches in Lithuania is decreasing every year, and it is rare to see places where the four largest banks still offer the opportunity to withdraw money. Although the Association of Commercial Banks states that, on average, a Lithuanian needs to drive up to 10 miles to an ATM, politicians who have agreed to ban the payment of wages in cash are not satisfied. The Seimas is preparing to impose an obligation on the four largest commercial banks to hand over ATMs where they do not exist, especially in the regions.
The Chairman of the Seimas Committee, Mykolas Majauskas, states: “Seeing the benefits of the banks, the limited competition, I have no doubt that they will have enough resources to make an ATM network in Lithuania accessible and of high quality for all the citizens”.
According to the amendment to the Law of Banks registered in the Seimas, at least 95 percent of the population must have an ATM within 5 kilometers, 2 percent at 10 kilometers and 3 percent even more far.
The ATM development project has already been signed by around fifty parliamentarians. However, the opposition warns that to deliver small ATMs, it is still necessary to force banks to regularly replenish them with money.
Peasant Valius Ąžuolas says: “Theoretically there will be ATMs, but when you come you will not find money. In Akmenė district, if you come on the day of pensions, wages, the ATM is empty. bank explanation: we will rarely replenish money, no money for 3-5 days. It can happen, in theory it will happen, in practice it will not happen. “
After seeing the new ATM development project, commercial bank representatives are reluctant to comment. The association sent only a laconic statement.
Banking associations comment: “We are currently conducting a legal evaluation of the project and analyzing its potential impact on the country’s financial sector and consumers of financial services.”
Today, there are 890 ATMs left in Lithuania, and a couple of years ago there were two hundred more. According to Mykolas Majauskas, as of the middle of next year there should be between 200 and 300 ATMs in the country where they currently do not exist. However, in places where there are many ATMs, they can decrease. Politicians are considering that banks could share ATMs with each other and create a common network to optimize ATM maintenance costs. However, consumer representatives demand that free cash withdrawals be made in such a case, regardless of which bank owns the ATM.
Kęstutis Kupšys, Vice President of the Consumer Alliance, says: “Those who manage electronic money would like everyone to use it. But pure has the main feature: it allows you to achieve complete privacy and anonymity in the transaction “.
Prime Minister Šimonytė is wary of the MPs’ project to increase the availability of ATMs, which is supported by the Bank of Lithuania.
“The need for cash in the economy is decreasing. Many institutions provide collection services, commercial companies, the need is a bit relevant, here is a subject of detailed discussions,” says I. Šimonytė.
Asta Kuniyoshi, vice chairman of the board of the Bank of Lithuania, said: “In the cities we would see more than we need, but in the regions, as long as the majority of the population has the habit of paying in cash, we would see a shortage.
Politicians demanding the development of ATMs hope that this will not cause difficulties for the large Lithuanian commercial banks. After all, its parent banks already have to meet similar requirements in Sweden, where a very similar law came into effect this year.
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