UPDATE 1-Bank of England tells banks to preserve access to cash

(Adds banks agreeing to share services)

By Huw Jones

LONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The Bank of England has told top
banks to spell out by March how they will keep enough cash in
circulation as COVID-19 accelerates its decline, saying it won't
create a new body for distributing notes and coins.

Access to cash has become a politically sensitive issue as
banks shut branches and more people use cards for payments,
raising worries about people's ability to store, send and
receive money. Over 5 million adults still rely on cash in their
day-to-day lives, many of whom have limited access to banking.

A report for the Bank of England (BoE) last year proposed a
"utility" or single entity responsible for distributing cash,
which would be funded by banks.

The BoE said on Wednesday there was no consensus for this
due to doubts over how quickly it could be set up given the
complex IT challenges involved.

Instead, it was opting for industry-wide commitments to
maintain sufficient resilience in cash distribution, improve
efficiencies to cope with declining volumes, and reduce the
environmental hit from processing cash.

Industry body UK Finance said on Wednesday major retail
banks such as Lloyds, NatWest, Barclays and HSBC have agreed
that if a community's core cash service faces closure, cash
machine network LINK will have the power to commission new
services which the banks would fund.

These could include enhanced Post Office services, new
free-to-use cash machines, and shared banking hubs.

"This is a great start, and I look forward to seeing the
impact of industry’s announcements for new and improved cash
facilities in local communities across the UK," Britain's
financial services minister John Glen said.

NEW POWERS

The BoE set an end of March deadline for banks to submit
individual plans on how they will back up their new commitments.

"To help support this, HM Treasury will provide the Bank of
England with the powers that it needs to keep the wholesale
infrastructure sustainable and resilient into the future," the
BoE said in a statement.

The use of cash for payment transactions has slumped from
just over half in 2010 to 17% in 2020, with the fall
accelerating during the pandemic as some shops refused to handle
notes and coins, requiring contactless payments instead.

Since lockdowns were lifted, cash withdrawals have gradually
increased but in August 2021 cash machine withdrawals were
30-40% lower than the same period in 2019, the BoE said.

"Looking ahead, there is considerable uncertainty around the
long term outlook for cash demand," the BoE said.

The Bank is also looking at the potential for a digital
version of sterling, which could crimp cash usage further.

The Federation of Small Businesses said the new strategy
would bring hope to communities that are losing bank branches
and cash machines.

"This strategy marks a very important step forward. We now
need government to deliver the access to cash legislation it
promised many months ago to cement and build on the progress
made today," the FSB said.
(Reporting by Huw Jones
Editing by William Maclean and Mark Potter)