Access to cash
In Switzerland, cash is an important payment method and store of value for households and companies. To be able to use cash, they need good access to ATMs, bank branches and post offices (access points). In recent years, access points have continuously been reduced and the range of cash services offered in bank branches has increasingly been restricted. The number of access points alone is not sufficient to evaluate access to cash. Equally relevant is the reachability of these access points. Against this backdrop, the Swiss National Bank, together with the University of St.Gallen and with the support of external data analysts, examines the geographical distribution of ATMs, bank branches and post offices. The measurement focuses on the travel time required and distance covered by households and companies to withdraw or deposit banknotes or coins, starting from their place of residence or business location. A distinction is made between the reachability of cash withdrawal or deposit points by private motor vehicles and by public transport.
Main findings
Overall, the results show that cash access varies depending on transaction type and region. There are five main findings:
- The travel time to withdrawal and deposit points for coins is longer than for banknotes. To withdraw banknotes, 95% of households need less than around 6 minutes by private motor vehicle. For coins, the travel time is just under 7 minutes.
- Access points can be reached significantly faster in urban areas than in rural municipalities. While 95% of households in urban municipalities need less than 5.5 minutes to reach an access point for withdrawing banknotes, 95% households in rural areas take 7.5 minutes. The difference between rural and urban areas increases considerably when looking at banknote deposits or coin transactions. In rural areas, 95% of households travel around 11.5 minutes for coin deposits, twice as long as their urban counterparts (around 5.5 minutes).
- The means of transport strongly influences journey time. Especially in rural municipalities, travel time rises significantly when public transport is used rather than private motor vehicles. In such areas, 95% of households take up to 18 minutes by public transport to reach the nearest withdrawal point for banknotes (around 5.5 minutes by private motor vehicle).
- There are substantial regional differences. Travel time to access points varies greatly by municipality, district and canton, especially for coin transactions or when public transport is used rather than private motor vehicles. In the canton with the broadest access to cash (Basel-Stadt), 95% of households take less than around 5.5 minutes by private transport (9 minutes by public transport) to reach a withdrawal point for banknotes. In the canton with the most limited access (Jura), the journey time is 7.5 minutes (around 27 minutes by public transport).
- Households and companies reach ATMs and post offices more quickly than bank branches. While 95% of households take less than around 6 minutes to reach an ATM or post office by private motor vehicle, they need 11 minutes to reach a bank branch. Nevertheless, bank branches where cash services are offered at counters play an important role for companies, particularly when it comes to withdrawing coins.
Although both the SNB (Bargeld beziehen und einzahlen: Wie lange dauert der Weg zur nächsten Zugangsstelle?, in German only) and the University of St.Gallen (Swiss Money Map 2024) have already measured reachability in recent years, owing to changes in the analysis methodology, a year-on-year comparison is currently not possible. The SNB and the University of St.Gallen will regularly evaluate developments in cash access over the coming years.
Methodology
The most important cash access points are recorded in collaboration with banks and cash infrastructure operators in September of the year being analysed:
- Bank branches: Only branches where cash services are provided at counters are included. Branches exclusively providing advisory services are excluded from the measurement.
- Post offices: All post office branches and agencies are included. Post office agencies are branches at local partners, e.g. retailers.
- ATMs: With a few exceptions, all ATMs, coin deposit machines and coin roll dispensers in Switzerland are included. It should be noted that ATMs that cannot be accessed around the clock are also considered.
The exact location of each cash access point is recorded using coordinates. Due to the variety of data sources and the large number of access points, occasional inaccuracies cannot be ruled out. However, the main findings are unlikely to be significantly impacted by this. At the municipal level, the impact of inaccuracies can increase, meaning the results at this level should only be considered rough estimates.
Every hectare (100x100 m) in Switzerland (as per the 'hectare grid' of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, SFSO) featuring at least one household or company is taken into account for the measurement. From the centre point of each hectare cell, the travel time and distance by private motor vehicle and by public transport to the nearest ATM, bank branch and post office are determined for four different types of transaction: (i) banknote withdrawals, (ii) banknote deposits, (iii) coin withdrawals and (iv) coin deposits. Two scenarios are distinguished: the air-line distance from the centre of a hectare to the nearest access point is less than 500 metres (scenario 1) or more than 500 metres (scenario 2).
- In scenario 1, it is assumed that the access point is reached on foot. The calculated travel time then is the time needed to cover the distance at a speed of 5 km/h.
- In scenario 2, the travel time is determined by querying OSRM for private motor vehicles and opentransportdata for public transport. For private motor vehicles, the query includes the 15 nearest access points as measured by air-line distance, whereas for public transport the 5 nearest are considered. Finally, for each hectare, type of cash access point, means of transport and type of transaction, the fastest travel time and the corresponding distance is determined.
Finally, the results for each hectare are used to calculate the travel time and distance for individual regions, cantons, municipalities and the whole of Switzerland. The calculation takes into account how many households (SFSO, STATPOP, 2024) or companies (SFSO, STATENT, 2023) are located within each hectare.
It should be noted that travel time and distance from a household's place of residence or a company's business location reflects only one dimension of the reachability of access points. Scenarios in which cash deposits and withdrawals are made while commuting to work or during the weekly shopping trip, for instance, are not factored in. Likewise, the analysis does not factor in whether an access point is open to all households and companies or only to those with a customer relationship with the access point operator.
Additional data
Additional results will be published by the University of St.Gallen on the dashboard of the 'Swiss Money Map' project.
Travel times for 95% of households by private motor vehicle and by public transport for banknote and coin transactions by macro-region, canton and district can be downloaded at the following link.
Travel times for 95% of companies by private motor vehicle and by public transport for banknote and coin transactions by macro-region, canton and district can be downloaded at the following link.