(Midlothian
North and Musselburgh) (SNP): Mind you, several years ago, RBS
said that it would never close the last bank in town, and that
did not last too long.
I am not sure what proportion it is,
but a number of businesses have indicated that they use their
own resources to top up the cash machines themselves. That must
help with the cash position.
Professor Russel Griggs OBE: Not that I am aware
of.
: No?
Professor Griggs: No, and one of the reasons why
I am shaking my head is that, if there is an ATM in a bank
building and someone wants to use that building, Loomis
and
G4S and all the other people who deliver
the money will make it quite difficult for them to operate around
the ATM. What you have said is news to me.
: The practice seems
to be in some of the small grocer shops that have an ATM.
: That might be a
question for Link, which I know you are speaking to later. I
cannot imagine how it would work, but I am not the expert...
Professor Griggs:...The banks are well aware of
my view with regard to the issue of cash. I cannot see how a
bunch of clever people such as those who work for the banks
cannot get together and figure out how cash can be picked up in
the first place—that cannot be outwith the wit of man or
woman
. I think that there are things
that can be done—G4S, for example, goes all over Scotland every
day. I have said many times that the banks could be cleverer with
regard to this. The issue is not to do with information
technology, because it concerns cash. There is a lot that the
banks could do in this area, not just to do with ATMs but to do
with physical collection. In some of the more rural parts of the
world, such as ’s constituency,
there are greater difficulties, but it is still possible...
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