Today, more than half the world’s ATMs are found in just five countries — China, the United States, Japan, Brazil and India.

Of these, the first four experienced a decline in numbers during 2018, while the fifth, India, saw a marked slowing of ATM growth, according to Global ATM Market and Forecasts to 2024, a new report from the London-based research and consulting firm, RBR.

Each market had its own reasons for the reduction in ATM numbers, RBR found:

• In China, the swift adoption of noncash payments has contributed to a rapid fall in ATM installations.
• In the United States branch closures have meant fewer bank ATMs, while IAD expansion has been stifled somewhat as some retailers have jettisoned machines rather than upgrade to EMV standards.
• In Japan the ATM market shrank for the first time since 2009, as banks attempted to improve operational efficiency through increased ATM sharing.
• In Brazil, the removal of around 1,200 terminals in 2018 was primarily due to banks reacting to a surge in the use of digital channels.

Despite these findings, the study shows that ATM numbers have actually grown in most countries. Financial inclusion initiatives continue to bolster growth in developing markets across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa and Latin America.

Given the current pattern of ATM removals and installations, RBR said that the global ATM total is set to fall slowly, to 3.22 million in 2024.

That is roughly the same number of ATMs as in 2015, when the installed base stood at 3.2 million. In 2016, RBR forecast that the installed base would reach 4 million by 2021.

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