Some 369 bank machines or ATMs were destroyed by explosions in Germany last year, a 38-percent increase compared with 2017 and 10 times more than a decade ago, according to data from
the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA).
ATMs at Germany's publicly-owned Sparkasse banks in south and west Germany are refusing to provide customers with cash and bank statements on Friday due to a problem at one of the group's computer centres.
German banks had to replace nearly a third of all their cash machines last year because they were too easy for criminals to manipulate, according to the <i>Financial Times Deutschland</i> on Wednesday.
Starting Friday at midnight, cash machines in Germany will display the extra fees customers of rival banks are charged when making withdrawals, allowing them to abort the transaction.
Cash machine withdrawal fees could be capped by the government under a plan being hatched to stop banks stalling on an industry-wide agreement to slash soaring fees, a media report said Thursday.
German banks continue to bicker over how to meet federal regulator demands to reduce exorbitant cash machine fees by August 31, a media report said on Wednesday.
A €5 limit on cash machine withdrawal fees offered by banks amid intense criticism and government pressure was dismissed Wednesday by the competition watchdog as not good enough.
German Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner said on Friday promised a solution to soaring cash machine withdrawal fees was on its way, as banks have signalled a willingness to agree to an upper limit.
German banking customers being stung by cash machine withdrawal fees of up to €10 may get some relief after parliament's consumer affairs official declared Wednesday he planned to investigate the soaring costs.
A slew of German banks have begun charging their customers fees of up to €10 for using non-affiliated cash machines, a survey by consumer financial services company FMH showed on Thursday.
