“Withdraw commissions down.” The plan for a roof for 1.5€

ROME. Let's call it a cash emergency. It may be true that we are going straight to cashless society, the cashless society in which the currency will only be digital, but in the meantime we risk excluding those who, by custom, still prefer money in their pockets. In an old country, with more than 13 million people over 65, not everyone is used to paying with credit cards. The transition to digital (and the trend towards consolidation of banks that merge to lower costs) is causing “the great decline of ATMs”, the points of withdrawal of money. In small municipalities and mountain areas, if we exclude the widespread network of Postamats, we are witnessing an inexorable death. Around 600 are lost every year throughout Italy and this risks causing generational apartheid: for some, withdrawing means embarking on a journey of several kilometers. On the other hand, branches close and ATM management costs for banks are too high. “Costs that are due to loading the drawer, investments in security, insurance against possible damage,” explains Alessandro Zollo, CEO of BANCOMAT SpA. Costs that are incurred by the bank that provides the withdrawal service and not by the bank that issues our credit card and where we have the current account. A jump between 70 and 90 cents for each transaction not offset by the 49-cent interbank fee with which the bank holding the account remunerates the one that allowed the withdrawal. These are the so-called 'circular withdrawals' (i.e. not carried out by your bank's ATMs, 25% of the total). The customer in turn pays a commission of up to 3 euros written only in their contract with the bank. A commission that is often forgotten and which, however, affects our deposits.
And so Zollo has in mind a system revolution that has found an unexpected side in consumer associations. All believe that “the current model is not transparent for the consumer and does not encourage the development of the network that could provide other services besides the cash withdrawal, that is, the payment of bills and PagoPA services.” Zollo, on the other hand, imagines “a ceiling of 1.5 euros for customers on each withdrawal from a bank other than the one where you have a current account and a preliminary view of the commission through an application that can locate even the least expensive ATMs.” The proposal is expected to be evaluated by the Antitrust by the end of November, but if it were to pass, the liberalization of cash would begin.
In which you could have money, with Cashback, even at the supermarket or at the gas station. Paying a little more than the shopping by card. In the United Kingdom and the United States, this is already the case. Everyone would earn it: merchants who get rid of some money and would be remunerated with a commission, customers who could withdraw wherever they want.

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