Big banks closing ATMs across South Africa

Many of South Africa’s largest banks are closing ATMs across the country as people move away from cash and adopt digital payment methods.

The Visa and Discovery Bank SpendTrend report for 2025 showed that while people still use cash for many reasons, including habit, its prevalence is losing its appeal.

The report noted that 84% of South Africans surveyed prefer using cards or digital payments whenever possible.

“This shift is especially noticeable among younger consumers, with 83% saying they use digital payments more than the year before,” Discovery said. 

Additionally, 67% of respondents who use cash said they use it only a few times a month. Over 93% of South Africans said they prefer digital payment for anything over R100. 

“Cash is becoming less common as a payment method, with most South Africans now favouring digital transactions,” said Discovery.

“With digital payment options offering greater convenience, better incentives and increased security, cash is gradually being replaced, and this trend shows no sign of slowing down.”

This growing trend means that the need for ATMs nationwide will continue to shrink as more South Africans adopt digital alternatives. 

This is evident in the number of ATMs major banks have closed in recent years due to the uptake of digital alternatives. 

According to an analysis by Mybroadband, the Big Four banks—Absa, FNB, Nedbank, and Standard Bank—closed 233 ATMs in the first half of 2024.

The biggest cutters were Standard Bank and Absa, which shut down 76 and 75 ATMs, respectively, over the past year. 

Nedbank followed with 42 and FNB with 40. Capitec is the only major bank that has increased its number of ATMs.

According to its interim financials for the period from March to August 2024, Capitec increased its ATMs from 8,382 to 8,749, a jump of 367.

However, it is important to note that a large share of this increase is likely not its own ATMs but those of partners like retailers.

ATM extinction forecast for South Africa

A study conducted by Merchant Machine revealed that several countries, including South Africa, have seen a notable reduction in ATM numbers. 

The study used World Bank data to find the number of ATMs available per 100,000 people in each country across the past 10 years of available data.

A statistical model was run using this data to predict when each country would drop below one ATM, i.e. cashless, based on the current shrinkage rate.

Interestingly, the data revealed that seven countries are projected to lose their final ATM within the next 25 years, and they’re all in Europe.

Norway and Ireland are projected to lose their last ATM in 11 years, while Lithuania is expected to follow in the next 14 years. 

Looking at the reduction of ATMs in these countries, Lithuania had the fastest shrinkage rate, losing 45.7% of its ATMs annually since 2012. 

Norway follows with a 44.5% reduction, and Ireland is in close third place, seeing a 41.9% decline in its cash machine numbers nationwide. 

In comparison, South Africa has experienced an annual shrinkage rate of 2.67% in the number of ATMs nationwide since 2012.

According to the Merchant Machine’s estimates, this means South Africa could be ATM-free in 32 years’ time. 

Interestingly, some big banks noted that rising crime in South Africa has become a factor in reducing the number of ATMs in the country. 

This growing issue was recently highlighted by the targeting of multiple ATMs at a shopping mall in Hammanskraal, Pretoria, in March 2025.

It was reported that a group of around 30 suspects stormed the premises and targeted five ATMs and a drop safe in one of the shops.

Protecting and insuring ATMs against bombings by criminal syndicates costs banks millions of rand each year.

ATMs are also a soft target for installing card-skimming devices and capturing PINs, which are used to clone cards and defraud banking customers.