FCA: Access to cash coverage in the UK 2021 Q4

The FCA provides an overview of geographical cash access coverage in the UK at the end of the third quarter (October to December) of 2021. This is the fourth in a series of regular updates to monitor coverage over time. On a quarterly basis, the FCA, together with the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), are gathering and updating data on cash access point locations and other access characteristics, including temporary closures, opening hours, and accessibility, for brick-and-mortar and mobile bank and building society branches, automated teller machines (ATMs), and the Post Office network. This quarter it has supplemented this information with data on cashback vendor locations. The FCA estimates that for access to any bank, building society, Post Office branch, or any ATM (either free or pay-to-use): * 95.7% of the UK population are currently within 2km of a cash access point * 99.7% of the UK population are currently within 5km of a cash access point For free-to-use access points only: * 95.5% of the UK population are currently within 2km of a cash access point * 99.7% of the UK population are currently within 5km of a cash access point For the UK, estimates of coverage at 2km and 5km for all access points, including free-to use access points only, have not changed since 2021 Q2. This applies to the UK population overall, as well as rural and urban populations separately. It also applies whether we include or exclude cashback. However, there has been changes in the type of access points available over this time. Between 2021 Q3 and 2021 Q4: * The number of brick-and-mortar branches of the larger banks and building societies providing personal current accounts (PCA) continued to fall, as 82 (1.5%) ceased to provide services. This brings the total reduction in these branches to 573 since 2021 Q1, a reduction of 9.8%. * The share of the UK population living within 2km of a large PCA provider brick-and-mortar branch fell by 0.3 percentage points from 59.6% to 59.3%. The share living within 5km fell by 0.2 percentage points, from 87.4% to 87.2%. Coverage of such branches has consistently declined since 2021 Q1 when it was 61.8% at 2km and 88% at 5km. * There was a small decrease in the availability of Post Office branches (1%) and number of free-to-use ATMs (<1%) between Q3 and Q4, although this had negligible impacts on overall cash access coverage.英国金融行为监管局（Financial Conduct Authority, FCA）发布了2021年第三季度（10月至12月）末英国地理层面现金服务覆盖概况。本报告是系列定期更新中的第四份，旨在长期追踪现金服务覆盖情况的变化。 英国金融行为监管局（FCA）与支付系统监管局（Payment Systems Regulator, PSR）按季度收集并更新现金服务网点的位置及其他服务属性数据，涵盖临时停业、营业时间、服务可达性等信息，涉及实体与移动银行及建房互助会分支机构、自动柜员机（Automated Teller Machine, ATM）以及邮政储蓄网络。本季度，该团队还补充了返现商户的位置数据。 FCA估算显示，若可使用任意银行、建房互助会、邮政储蓄分支机构或任意自动柜员机（含免费及付费使用两类）： * 目前英国95.7%的人口所处位置距离现金服务网点不超过2公里 * 目前英国99.7%的人口所处位置距离现金服务网点不超过5公里 仅针对免费使用的服务网点： * 目前英国95.5%的人口所处位置距离免费现金服务网点不超过2公里 * 目前英国99.7%的人口所处位置距离免费现金服务网点不超过5公里 就英国整体而言，所有现金服务网点（含仅免费使用网点）在2公里及5公里范围内的覆盖估算数据自2021年第二季度以来未发生变化。该结论适用于英国全体人口，也分别适用于农村与城镇人口；无论是否纳入返现商户数据，该结论均成立。但在此期间，可提供的现金服务网点类型发生了变化。2021年第三季度至第四季度期间： * 提供个人往来账户（Personal Current Accounts, PCA）服务的大型银行及建房互助会的实体分支机构数量持续下滑，共有82家（占比1.5%）停止提供相关服务。自2021年第一季度以来，此类分支机构累计减少573家，降幅达9.8%。 * 居住在大型个人往来账户服务提供商实体分支机构2公里范围内的英国人口占比从59.6%下降0.3个百分点至59.3%；居住在5公里范围内的占比从87.4%下降0.2个百分点至87.2%。自2021年第一季度以来，此类分支机构的覆盖范围持续下滑，当时2公里覆盖占比为61.8%，5公里覆盖占比为88%。 * 2021年第三季度至第四季度期间，邮政储蓄分支机构的可获得性下降1%，免费使用的自动柜员机数量下降不足1%，但此类变化对整体现金服务覆盖情况的影响可忽略不计。