MADRID, 12 (EUROPA PRESS)

Residents have registered a non-statutory proposal in Congress of Deputies to promote cash withdrawals at businesses, a practice known as ‘cashback’ or ‘cash-in-shop’, which aims to reduce the reliance on automated ATMs to do this. operation type.

As stated in the text of the proposal, which is accessible to Europa Press, the orange formation proposes to reform Decree 19/2018, November 23, on payment services and other urgent measures in financial matters, in order to give this practice “adequate legal coverage and facilitate access to cash.”

The group’s proposal is part of a scenario of a general increase in ATM commissions, a progressive disappearance of these ATM machines – more than 10,000 in the last decade, according to the Bank of Spain – and the closure of branches and branches, incidents “especially pronounced” in rural Spain, where currently 4,378 the municipality does not have a bank office.

Add to this the new consumption dynamics, which will result in 28% fewer cash withdrawals being made by the end of 2021. However, Ciudadanos points out that, despite the trends shown, cash still represents 30% of payment operations in Spain today.

‘Cashback’ emerges here as an “agile and efficient” solution for access to cash. An alternative that, moreover, has already been tested “successfully” in other countries. In particular, the formation points to the UK as an example, where a legal modification has been approved to allow cash to be withdrawn in stores without having to make a purchase.

Ciudadanos highlighted that the measure would be especially significant in rural areas, as they are “more exposed” to the unbanking process. However, this would also be an “important disclaimer” in large cities, as, although there are many ATMs in those cities, the lack of agreements between financial institutions or multi-brand ATMs means that on many occasions a particular ATM user entity is “relatively remote.” “.