According to figures posted by the Canadian Bankers Association last year, there are nearly 70,000 cash machines nationwide. About 18,500 – or just over 25% of them – are bank-owned. The remaining 50,000 or so are privately owned.

The concept of a cash-free (or cashless) society has been around for decades. But with the digital-payments penetration reaching 89 percent in 2022, and with the share of respondents who report using two or more forms of digital payments growing rapidly - from 51 percent in 2021 to 62 percent (McKinsey), research shows us that customers are increasingly moving away from cash-based payments.