Post Office opens its tills to Link customers

The Post Office has teamed up with cash machine network LINK to enable people to access their money over the counter at its branches, it announced today.

The #2.4 million deal will enable the Post Office to carry out real-time banking, enabling people with a new basic bank account to withdraw cash or pay in cheques at any Post Office branch.

The move, which is part of the introduction of universal banking services, will also enable people to continue collecting their benefits in cash from the Post Office after it switches to automated credit transfer (ACT) in April 2003.

The basic bank account is aimed at people who do not have a bank account. It offers a card for withdrawing cash but does not include a chequebook or overdraft.

The Post Office will offer its own Card Account, while 10 other banks, including Barclays, Lloyds TSB, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland, will also offer basic accounts which can be accessed through the Post Office.

It is hoped that the network will be operating by the end of next year.

Basil Larkins, executive director of strategic alliances at the Post Office, said: “This represents a key step towards offering customers greater access to their cash across our network of some 18,000 branches free of charge.

“The introduction of Universal Banking Services will be a major boost to the Post Office branch network.”