Despite the record number of ATMs, cash withdrawals are declining in Hungary

There have never been so many operating cash dispensers in Hungary: by the end of 2025, the number of ATMs will reach 5,645. This represents an increase of around 500 units, or nearly 10 percent, in a single year – which clearly reflects the impact of the government-mandated ATM installation obligation – reminds Péter Gergely, financial expert at BiztosDöntés.hu.

However, the expansion does not follow an increase in usage. On the contrary: the number of cash withdrawals shows a permanent decrease. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Hungarians withdrew cash more than 1.15 million fewer times than a year earlier, in two and a half years, the volume decreased by approximately one million transactions per month.

“Based on the numbers, it is clear that the structure of cash use is changing: Hungarians are withdrawing less frequently, but increasingly larger amounts,” says Péter Gergely, referring to the fact that the average amount per cash withdrawal transaction was already approaching HUF 120,000 in the fourth quarter of 2025 – we are withdrawing HUF 10,000 more per ATM visit year-on-year. This indicates that consumer behavior had already shifted in this direction before the free cash withdrawal limit was raised from HUF 150,000 to HUF 300,000 in February this year. Accordingly, while the number of transactions is decreasing, the volume of cash withdrawn has been practically continuously increasing for a year and a half now.

The spectacular growth of the ATM network is not due to market demand, but to regulatory pressure. The number of ATMs is increasing, while usage is not increasing in parallel. According to central bank data, cash is still withdrawn from an ATM on average about 40 times a day, which at first glance indicates stable utilization, but the daily cash turnover per ATM has decreased by nearly HUF 400,000 to HUF 4.78 million. According to the BiztosDöntés.hu expert, this average is also highly distorted: for a significant part of the new ATMs that are mandatory in smaller settlements, the daily transaction number may be a fraction of this, while the majority of turnover is still concentrated in metropolitan ATMs, explains Péter Gergely.

Due to lower traffic, the installation and operation of rural ATMs entails higher fixed costs, and this is true even if, according to the statistics of the Hungarian National Bank, cash withdrawal revenues per ATM have not decreased significantly so far. However, this most likely still reflects the higher revenue from withdrawals above the previous free cash withdrawal limit of 150 thousand forints, and moreover, the central bank only publishes revenue statistics and does not show costs in its banknote circulation data – reminds the financial expert of BiztosDöntés.hu, who believes that with the free cash withdrawal limit increased to 300,000 forints, a significant decline in bank revenues is expected in 2026.

While the number of ATMs is breaking records as a result of the ATM installation program, the channels for accessing cash are actually narrowing.

The number of POS terminals operating in bank branches and post offices, most of which also allow card cash withdrawals, is significantly decreasing