The government wants to keep enough ATMs: everyone should be able to get their money

It’s simple: everyone should be able to get their money’s worth. You may not have to drive miles for that. I walk two lanes. Either the sector cooperates and we conclude good agreements to achieve better coverage. Or the sector will not cooperate and we will force them to do so by law. The choice is theirs. After my first contacts with the sector, said Foreign Minister Bertrand, I had the impression that there was a will to cooperate constructively.

She and Derman took questions in the room on Thursday from Melissa Debreiter (Fuerwitt), Lynn Derek (CD&V), Stephen DeVoest (PVDA), Tanya de Jonge (Open VLD), Leslie Leoni (PS) and Nicholas Parent (Ecolo-Groen) about shortages of ATM machines.

Many municipalities in our country no longer have ATMs, which means that residents who do not yet use digital banking services, but also, for example, self-employed people who want to secure their income at the end of the day, sometimes have to travel miles To do that.

The big four banks have been working on a plan for some time to make 95 percent of the population a Neutral ATM Bank Available within a radius of five kilometers. But this is not enough, the deputies felt.

Derman and Bertrand agreed on Thursday that everyone should have access to their own money quickly and easily. They therefore want to enforce access to ATMs, preferably through consultation with the sector, but also through legal channels if necessary.

Today, there are no legal rules or agreements with the sector that define the minimum number of ATMs within the region and distribution. Bertrand advocates the study of population density, but in any case, according to her, every municipality must have a vending machine.