The cash machine turns 40

On June 27th 1967 personal banking changed for ever with the opening of the world’s first cash machine in Enfield, North London.

The Barclays branch opened the first ever ATM so that customers could access cash outside of the bank’s normal opening hours.

Actor Reg Varney, star of popular sitcom On the Buses, christened the cash point and will always be remembered as the first person ever to withdraw money from a hole in the wall.

In those days, customers needed to feed a special voucher into the machine and enter a unique four digit code in order to gain access to a £10 note.

Principally, ATMs have not changed too much over the last 40 years but their popularity has soared.

By the end of the 1960s the UK had 595 cash points, while the world contained 781. By the end of 2006 there were 60,642 in the UK and 1.64 million across the globe.

“The cash machine, more than any other banking innovation, has had a major impact on the way we all conduct our lives, not just our banking,” said John Warren, head of cash machines for Barclays.

“Forty years ago cash was only available from 9-3 pm Monday to Friday and Saturdays from 9 -12.30 pm and, as cash was king, queues outside branches on a Saturday morning to get weekend money were common. Now you can get money any time, anywhere.”

The cash machine was invented by John Shepherd-Barron who had the idea while taking a bath after he had been prevented from getting his weekend money because he was late to the bank.

Tags: business, time, barclays, voucher, barron, code

Child trust funds proving popular

More than 2.6 million children in the UK now hold a child trust fund (CTF) with the scheme proving popular among parents, according to the economic secretary.

Ed Balls said the results were “encouraging” and pointed out that around three quarters of the accounts had been opened up by parents with little prompting from the government, showing that they are looking after the financial future of their children.

Mr Balls said that HM Revenue & Customs was planning to remind all new parents of the opportunity to set up a CTF within their child’s first eight months, if parents have not done it themselves.

“I want to encourage parents, grandparents and whole families to use the Child Trust Fund not just as a saving tool but as a way of teaching children about money and savings,” the economic secretary said.

CTFs were introduced in 2002 as a savings tool for all children born after September 1st of that year.

The government provides a £250 voucher to start off the fund and then, when the child reaches seven, adds a further £250 on top.

Tags: saving, CTFs, voucher, child, new parents, scheme