Euronet ATM strike. mBank surprised by operator’s decision

Today, you can only withdraw PLN 200 at a time in Euronet devices. This is not a failure, but a planned action: the ATM operator protests against low commissions that “do not cover the costs of domestic cash withdrawals.” Euronet representatives claim that the rate for cash withdrawals using a domestic card has remained virtually unchanged for 14 years, and since 2015 also using the BLIK code.

Euronet has a network of over 7.5 thousand in Poland. ATMs.

Banks surprised by Euronet’s decision

“The commissions for withdrawals charged by banks to users are still increasing, discouraging the use of cash,” we read on the Euronet website.

This is an inconvenience for customers who need more cash at one time. If they want to withdraw PLN 1,000 or more, they will have to withdraw several times, which may involve additional commissions. “ATM users are not victims of Euronet’s actions, but of the current state of affairs that Euronet is working to change,” the company argues in a statement.

Euronet’s decision surprised the banks. “Euronet today, without prior notice, limited the amount of one-time withdrawals from ATMs in their network to PLN 200. This is a decision over which we have no influence and applies to customers of all banks in Poland.

To withdraw money without a commission, use our network’s ATMs, i.e. PlanetCash devices or machines in our branches. There are almost 5,000 of them in total. You can withdraw PLN 4,000 at a time at PlanetCash ATMs, and up to PLN 8,000 at machines in our branches.

There are fewer ATMs on Polish streets

Poles have become convinced of cashless payments: we pay by card in stores, we transfer money to each other using Blitz or to our accounts. Even some children have not been receiving pocket money in cash for a long time, but by transfer to a special account for young people. For this reason, the number of ATMs decreases every year: a decade ago, they were on every major street, and at the end of 2022, there were 21,310 ATMs on the Polish market. This is 2,441 machines less than five years earlier.

The National Bank of Poland published data on the ATM market in Poland in 2022. The report shows that despite the decline in the number of devices, we still willingly use them. In 2022, Poles used them to make 494 million payments with a total value of PLN 379 billion. For comparison, a year earlier there were 488 million such transactions and their value was PLN 342 million. However, it should be taken into account that the study was conducted during the pandemic, when interest in cash increased significantly.