News MUFG to end 24-hour ATM operations

[thomas]

While SMFG and Mizuho plan to keep their ATMs open 24 hours daily for now, MUFG Bank will limit the operating hours of its ATMs by the end of fiscal 2023 to cut costs: the spread of cashless services means reduced demand for cash machines.

The bank's ATMs are currently available 24 hours a day in 98 locations across Japan, in its urban branches like Tokyo, Osaka, and Aichi Prefecture, as well as near train stations and at airports. By September, operation hours for 91 of them will be reduced to 18 hours a day, from 6 a.m. to midnight the next day at a maximum. The remaining 7 ATMs will also shorten their hours of operation by the end of this fiscal year. The number of ATMs used between midnight and 6 a.m. has halved from five years ago and now accounts for only about 0.1% of the total number of times ATMs are used. The bank decided that changing operation hours would have a limited impact on its customers, backed by the spread of cashless payments and the increase in the number of ATMs available 24 hours a day at convenience stores.

Paywall alert:

Japan's MUFG to end 24-hour ATM operations

Spread of cashless services means reduced demand for cash machines

asia.nikkei.com

 

[mdchachi]

I wonder how that cuts costs significantly. They are already 無人.

 

[Majestic]

Very interesting. I, too, wonder about the cost savings, but I guess it could be quite significant.

 

[johnnyG]

the spread of cashless services means reduced demand for cash machines.

Next, due to that, not only will the hours be reduced, but the number of ATMs will shrink, too.

 

[Petaris]

I rely on ATMs, usually in convenience stores, when in Japan. 7bank used to be no fee for me, but I noticed last year that there was now a small fee.

I would love to use cashless but I didn't run across any shops that took Google Pay. I did run across places that took Line Pay but I couldn't even get the app from the Google Play Store as it is region locked to the Japanese version of the store. Even while in Japan, I couldn't download it.

I suspect that even if I could have downloaded it I would not have been able to add a foreign funding source.