It has become increasingly common for people to come across for sale or rent signs where a bank branch used to be. The shrinking of physical addresses continues apace as the financial world becomes increasingly digital.
However, in contrast to the closure of service points, the Banco24horas ATM network reached the largest size in its history between 2023 and 2024. And the number of self-service machines (ATM) in operation by the group already exceeds the total number of branches in the country by almost 50%.
The two movements have everything to do with each other. As more branches are closed, more customers in these regions turn to ATMs as an alternative to withdraw money, make payments and other transactions.
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It is no coincidence that TecBan, owner of the Banco24horas network, has as its main shareholders the five largest public and private banks in the country. Itaú Unibanco, Bradesco, Santander, Banco do Brasil and Caixa Econômica Federal together hold around 94% of the holding.
For financial institutions, the Banco24horas network has become a type of automated and less costly substitute for branches. TecBan’s product and distribution channel manager, Rodrigo Maranini, explains that there is a kind of informal agreement with institutions so as not to leave customers without physical service. “In many places, banks come and say ‘I’m going to close a branch’ and pass the task of offering customer service to customers in the region on to us.”
Given this movement, TecBan’s network reached its largest size in more than four decades last year. Each terminal is almost a compressed bank: you can withdraw, deposit, pay bills, request and unlock cards, request credit, top up your cell phone and even purchase gift cards.
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Banco24horas already has 24,500 terminals in the country. This means that the multibank ATM network already exceeds the number of branches in the country by 50%. Central Bank data shows that the number of physical service points in Brazil may have ended 2023 with a total of 16,500 addresses, if the most recent closure data, from the first quarter of last year, is annualized.
In the category that the BC calls “electronic service points” – you know those spaces in supermarkets and convenience stores with a Banco24horas? – the data also reflects this trend. Last year, ATMs serving several institutions, such as those from TecBan and other specialized companies, reached 59 thousand machines, compared to 47.4 thousand in 2022. The exclusive tellers of just one bank fell to 5.8 thousand in PAEs . There were 19 thousand a year earlier.
In addition to banks, several fintechs and digital banks use the Banco24horas network as a way of offering a physical service channel. Customers of Nubank, Inter, C6, PicPay, Neon, Mercado Pago and PagBank, for example, can also make withdrawals, deposits or transactions through the terminals.
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Of course, in metropolises like São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, the use of paper money is becoming less and less. But, even in the PIX era, the demand for physical money still remains intense, especially in the most remote corners of the country.
River Brazil
In riverside areas of Pará and Amazonas, inhabitants need to sail for hours to reach the nearest city. And it’s not just a few locations. In this Brazil of rivers, 40% of the municipalities of Pará depend exclusively on watercourses to connect. In Amazonas, 59 cities created municipal water transport systems.
Anyone who receives any assistance from the government, such as Bolsa Família, and lives in these places needs to take advantage of any opportunity when traveling to a larger city to withdraw and take their banknotes home. Most withdrawals are made through ATMs.
There is also a second factor behind the push towards self-service. Also going against the banks, credit unions, which, in practice, function as financial institutions, with accounts and credit cards, have invested in expanding their networks. The segment is already physically present in 57% of Brazilian municipalities or 3,117 cities.
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Faced with this growing demand, other companies have launched themselves into the market. Protege, for example, which operates in the transport and storage of valuables, with armored vehicles, began offering rental and management services for multibank ATMs in 2023. The company does not disclose the number of machines in operation, but predicts a growth of 10 times in 2025.
Financial digitization itself, in fact, has the side effect of an increase in banknote handling and management solutions at points of sale. “ATMs have gained greater scale due to the convenience of online credit”, says the group’s commercial director, Rodrigo Marchini.
Companies that deal with physical money management have created ways to reuse banknotes that arrive from customers. Especially because in more remote places the cost of transporting money and even an ATM can be a problem. Imagine taking a machine weighing more than a ton in a boat for several hours on a tributary of the Amazon? And having to supply this equipment with cash from time to time?
But you don’t need to be far from everything to appreciate the possibility of recycling the ballots you receive. This is a common demand for any business, because physical money, at the end of the day, needs to be transported and deposited in an account, which generates costs.
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Protege, for example, created a way to transform payments in notes into digital values. The application uses ATMs that recycle banknotes or smart safes. Called Protege Bank, this solution uses equipment to count money, record the amounts deposited in the ATM or stored in the safe and, immediately, transform this money into a credit in the establishment’s online account.
The “mini 24 Hour Bank”
Last year, TecBan launched an even more compact device called Atmo. It is a type of (very) miniaturized ATM, almost the size of a payment machine used in commerce.
This equipment also has biometric and QR Code reading. This way, they allow withdrawals without needing to use a card.
With the machine, an establishment’s customer can make conventional cash withdrawals or withdrawals via PIX. The store, in turn, uses its own banknotes received from sales in these operations. Atmo records everything and deposits the value of the banknotes into a digital store account. “Establishments can use the paper received from sales in these withdrawal operations, instead of transporting it to a bank”, summarizes Maranini, from TecBan.
Maranini explains that Atmos is part of the Banco24horas network. The company already has 600 mini-terminals. But the forecast is to reach 2 thousand next year. “It’s a solution that solves the problem of reaching places we can’t reach with an ATM.”
Maybe one day physical money will run out. But the same technology that presses paper can extend the use of banknotes. After all, even if it is not used frequently, even the very young generation may find it useful to have a “PIX printer” nearby at some point. Even if it’s just out of curiosity.
