I read an English machine-translation of that. It’s quite rough:

Last year, the Belgian banks again eliminated more than 10% of the points of withdrawal of money, more than 250 distributors. Between 2015 and 2020, it was already a quarter of the offer that had disappeared. It’s a huge frustration for many Belgians.

Context: large Belgian banks have joined forces to install “neutral” distributors. The Belgian government then concluded an agreement with the banking association Febelfin to ensure minimum coverage in the country. Distributors of tickets disappearing

At the beginning of the year, the banking world promised a distributor at least per commune, and 287 more than in its original plans. Except that beyond these promises, we did not know much of the actual coverage rates that the Belgians could expect. Neither the methodology used to distribute distributors. The Consumer Association Testachates, accompanied by Financity and Okra, has vainly tried to get answers to these questions from the federal government. These associations eventually referred to the Access to Administrative Documents Commission.

She gave them reason on 4 October. And consumer associations will be able to give their opinion on these documents that could not be consulted by the public.

The agreement “will be effective by better distributing ticket distributors throughout the territory” according to Testachats. But he doesn’t say anything about the maximum distance to travel to find a distributor. Even with a machine in each commune, you can count quickly in kilometers. The Commission has therefore appealed to the Belgian State to provide access to three vital information: The methodology used by the National Bank of Belgium to determine the distribution of ticket distributors in order to better understand the distribution planned by province. The provincial coverage rate for the three types of areas (urban, intermediate and rural) in 2025. The number of distributors per area and per commune, by distinguishing devices with and without deposit function, currently and what is expected in 2025.

The Autorité de la concurrence also on the matter

The icing on the cake: the Belgian state had at the time resigned to disclose these documents. He considered that some data could be partially described as sensitive competitive information. Except that the Autorité de la concurrence has initiated an investigation.

The original agreement between the large Belgian banks could well be perceived as an “anti-competitive agreement”. So the case is still far from over, but it is a symbolic victory for kosher defenders.

“Each year, banks reduce the number of automatic distributors, making access to cash more difficult for the population, even though it clearly expresses its desire to continue using liquid money. We are now awaiting the detailed documents of the Batopin Agreement to be able to verify precisely whether the project meets the concrete needs and concerns of citizens.” Julie Frère, Testachats Spokesperson

It threw me off because it’s all about distributing “tickets”. WTF… then I eventually worked out that it’s talking about ATMs.

The ATM situation is killing me. The drop in ATM numbers is not as severe as the drop in ATM diversity. KBC & other banks have become ATM-free. It has merged to this single shitty #Batopin supplier whose ATMs are incapable of doing a balance inquiry. At the moment it seems impossible in Brussels to check an account balance at an ATM.