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Otto cash machines to offer €10 notes amid decline in ATM use

The ATMs have only offered €20 and €50 notes since Finland introduced the euro nearly two decades ago.

Käsi työntää pankkikorttia automaattiin
File photo of an automated teller machine being used. Image: Yle / Ville Välimäki
  • Yle News

The ubiquitous Otto-branded automated teller machines (ATM) across Finland will begin dispensing 10 euro notes for the first time.

The firm that operates the cash dispensers, Automatia, announced the plans on Friday.

Ever since Finland adopted the euro at the beginning of 2002, Otto ATMs only offered customers from various banks the opportunity to withdraw 20 and 50 euro notes. Use of ATMs has steadily declined ever since, however.

Automatia said the devices' decreased popularity has reached the point in which they can hold enough cash of the three denominations during peak usage times, such as over weekends and holidays.

Otto ATMs in the Helsinki metropolitan area will be the first equipped with 10-euro-note dispensing capabilities and then, cash machines in other areas will be updated this spring, according to Automatia.

ATM video displays will show whether the devices are capable of dispensing 10 euro notes, the company said.

Automatia noted that it was also reintroducing one-time cash withdrawal limits of 400 euros as it upgrades its machines.

A couple of years ago the Bank of Finland reported that less than 10 percent of people in Finland used cash on a regular basis.