Public access to cash – Update report at year-end 2025

The update confirms that cash remained very easily accessible nationwide in 2025. The distance indicator, which measures cash accessibility, was broadly unchanged compared with 2024. At the end of 2025, 98.6% of the population lived less than 15 minutes by road from a site equipped with at least one automated teller machine (ATM),¹  and nearly the entire French population (99.8%) was less than 15 minutes by road from a site with at least one ATM or a private cash dispenser in a retail outlet (hereafter “private cash access point”).² .

The average travel time³ to the nearest withdrawal site for residents of municipalities with no withdrawal facilities was 9.3 minutes, broadly unchanged from 2024 (9.2 minutes).
The most recent European Central Bank (ECB) survey (2024)⁴confirmed that satisfaction with cash access remains very high in France: 91% of French respondents said access to cash was “easy” or “very easy”, which was one of the highest scores in the euro area. Over the past decade, surveys have consistently shown higher satisfaction results in France than in other European countries.
Banks continued to adjust their ATM fleets, primarily in better-equipped, densely populated urban areas. These areas tend to have several ATMs located close together, so removing one does not affect cash accessibility for the local population. On the contrary, adjusting the fleet in this way helps banks contain their cash management costs, making the remaining ATMs more viable over the long term. The adjustments are also a response to the declining use of cash as a means of payment and the downward trend in banknote flows and ATM withdrawals.⁵. However, the 2025 report underscores that the adjustment is having no significant impact on the geographical accessibility of cash withdrawal facilities.
The number of sites⁶ with at least one ATM declined by 2.7% in 2025, following decreases of 1.9% in 2024 and 3.9% in 2023. Despite this, the number of French municipalities with at least one ATM has remained remarkably stable since 2018, at around 6,500.
Alongside the ATM network, the number of private cash access points continued to rise, and at a faster pace than in 2024 (+5.5% in 2025 compared with +3.9% in 2024). At the end of 2025, there were a total of 30,057 private access points.
⁷.

Various steps are being taken to increase cash accessibility, demonstrating the strong commitment of industry players and French and European authorities. These initiatives include national projects, such as the Groupement Cartes Bancaires scheme to increase cash distribution via retail outlets, and European projects. 
To accompany this report, a map of cash access points in metropolitan France has been published. Available in two interactive formats, the tool enables users to locate private cash access points and sites with at least one ATM in a specific area, or view the number of ATM sites and private cash access points in each municipality. The information is anonymised.
 

¹ The journey can be made using different modes of transport. For the purposes of this report, the mode of transport taken into account is the car.
² Private cash access points are private cash dispensing services offered by four banking networks and only available to customers of those networks. The four services available via authorised retail outlets are BNP Paribas’ points Nickel, Crédit Agricole’s points relais, Crédit Mutuel’s points relais and various other La Banque Postale points de contact (post offices without ATMs, municipal and inter-municipal postal agencies, La Poste points of sale, etc.). Cash can be withdrawn outside the retail outlet’s normal opening hours and there is no need to make a purchase.
³ Journey time by road to the nearest ATM for residents of municipalities without an ATM.
⁴ Fourth ECB study on the payment attitudes of consumers in the euro area (known as the “2024 SPACE” study), published in December 2024.
⁵ See Banque de France Bulletin, 256/1, January-February 2025 and Banque de France Bulletin, 259/5.
⁶ An ATM site is a location with one or more ATMs.
⁷ Forthcoming EU regulation on the legal tender of cash (which includes provisions to guarantee the legal tender status of cash, i.e. the obligation for retailers to accept it as a means of payment, and provisions on cash accessibility). Also, the third payment services directive should make it easier to withdraw cash at retail outlets.