14 December 2007
UK banks Natwest and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) have announced the installation of 460 new cash machines across the country in the past year - which, they say, has given local economies an annual boost of over £5 million.
Of this total, 380 sit in village and small town Post Offices - providing an extra business boost to communities.
The announcement comes in the wake of the government's ongoing drive to expand the numbers of free-to-use ATMs in the UK to cover more remote and rural areas.
Chief executive at RBS Gordon Pell said: "The programme has proved itself to be enormously beneficial to the communities win which we have invested."
Chair of the Treasury select committee - which promotes the programme - John McFall added: "This initiative has been a great success - congratulations are due to the banks for their efforts in this area."
As well as small businesses, consumers are also feeling the benefits of the new machines, the two banks said in a joint statement.
According to a recent study, the average customer saves £7.32 per month through the free-to-use machines, due to reduced travel costs on journeys taken only obtain cash and avoiding superfluous purchases made only to gain cash-back.
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