Labour government urged to protect access to cash, face-to-face banking

The newly-elected UK government should help vulnerable people who perhaps cannot rely on online banking and protect access to cash and face-to-face banking, particularly for those living and working in rural communities, stated a recently-released report.

A report, recently commissioned by independent experts from the Financial Inclusion Commission (FIC) and conducted by the University of Birmingham’s Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management (CHASM), supports maintaining access to cash and other essential banking services for both consumers and businesses.

The report calls on government to introduce a "National Financial Inclusion Strategy" to help the millions of people across the UK who continue to struggle to get access to reasonable financial services and the protection of access to cash and face-to-face banking, particularly for those living and working in rural communities and more vulnerable people who perhaps cannot rely on online banking.

Volumatic’s Sales & Marketing Director, Mike Severs, fully supports this news and is pleased that the new FIC report is once again highlighting the need to protect access to cash and the right of consumers and businesses to continue to use cash.

He said, “Access to cash is so important to so many people across the country and we truly believe everyone has the right to pay by cash if they want to – as our white paper ‘Consumers Demand Payment Choice’ attests to.

“We really hope the next Government makes this strategy a reality because, while the Post Office has provided an absolute banking lifeline to everyone, the reality is that as more people switch to use these services, queues are getting bigger, transactions are taking longer and for those running a business, they just don’t have that time to waste.

“Volumatic recommends that businesses bring the bank to them through an investment in technology like the CCi that can offer integration with your CiT provider which opens more options for traditional banking services. This technology will make their cash handling more efficient and more secure from day one and the return on investment is extremely compelling – and they won’t need to be concerned about further bank closures either.”

With labour costs rising and the security risk involved in making a long journey to the nearest bank or Post Office, it isn’t a productive use of time.

Severs added, “As industry leaders, we believe investing in intelligent technology is crucial following the closure of yet more bank branches. We offer businesses collaboration with their Cash in Transit (CiT) provider and know that an investment in a CiT provider who can offer banking services, will mean owners or colleagues will no longer physically need to go to a bank.”

Volumatic offers a range of cash handling solutions, the CounterCache intelligent (CCi) an all-in-one solution validates, counts and stores cash securely at POS. In addition, the upgraded CashView Enterprise cash management software and its suite of intelligent apps, offers a full end-to-end cash management solution, by providing web service integration with other third party applications. Volumatic works with all the UK’s major CiT companies, and UK banks process over three million CCi pouches each year, all of which can provide accelerated credit to your accounts.