Cashpoints for post offices across Spain and OTC banking services for Santander customers

CASHPOINT machines are gradually being installed in 109 branches of Spain's post office, Correos, and plans are afoot to extend the service to small villages which do not have banks.

At present, the ATMs are being set up in major cities, with eight in Madrid, two in Barcelona and one in Valencia, but the remaining 98 will be in place by the end of the year, Correos has announced.

The State-run company is researching which rural villages in Spain have no bank branch of their own, but which do have a post office, with a view to putting in a cashpoint in these so their residents do not have to travel to draw money out or carry out other transactions, such as paying bills via the machine by scanning the barcode.

All the ATMs belong to the corporation Euro Automatic Cash, a Spanish firm specialising in 'floating' cashpoints with support from Banco Santander and Crédit Mutuel.

The deal between Correos and Banco Santander allows customers of the latter to withdraw money over the counter or pay cash into their account at the post office, at 2,393 physical branches and 2,282 Correos pick-up and drop-off points in rural areas.

CorreosCash, the new scheme, also enables customers with Banco Santander to request money delivered to them from their account by postal distribution workers.

This service is available to banking clients who have the Santander App on their phones, but for the over-the-counter withdrawal and paying in at the post office, and any other services that may be offered jointly between the two over time, the customer only needs their Santander bank card and their ID, with a photograph.

No charge is made for these services, for up to two operations per month, in towns and villages where Banco Santander does not have a physical branch.

In principle, anyone whose own bank is one of the 50 entities which has a deal with Euro Automatic Cash can make withdrawals without paying commission; in practice, banks may have to pay a sum to Euro Automatic Cash for each withdrawal a customer of theirs makes, meaning the user will be advised of this on the screen for information purposes only.

Whether this charge, or part of it, is passed onto the account-holder is a matter for each individual bank's customer policy.

Banco Santander, however, will see its own network expanded without having to open any more branches – through the CorreosCash scheme, the entity chaired by Ana Botín will be able to offer at least basic operations in 1,519 municipalities it has not, hitherto, had a presence.

In fact, in 75% of towns and villages where Banco Santander does not have a branch, there is, however, a post office, meaning the bank will have some operational level in all of these through Correos without having to set up physical offices.