Communities that lost their local bank branches are getting cash access back as Cyprus expands a rural ATM programme to 19 machines — well beyond the 11 originally announced.
Seventeen ATMs have been installed across mountain, remote and border communities since May 2025, with Kykkos Monastery expected to receive one within hours. The monastery installation will serve surrounding villages including Kambos Tsakkistras, Milikouri and Gerakies, as well as the thousands of visitors the site draws each year. A further machine is planned for Avgorou once the community completes site preparation.
The programme was launched by the government together with Cyprus’s banks and payments company JCC to fill the gap left by branch closures in rural and mountain areas. Several machines have been installed in community authority buildings to ensure adequate connectivity and security, with the banks and JCC covering all costs of installation, management and operation. Pensioners will not be charged for withdrawals, according to previous assurances.
The rollout has helped push Cyprus’s total ATM count to 405 at the end of the first half of 2025, up from 397 a year earlier, according to the Central Bank’s most recent bulletin. Around 72% of the island’s machines now support contactless card transactions.
The Central Bank also flagged the growing use of cashback at point-of-sale terminals as an alternative means of accessing cash, though ATMs remain Cypriots’ first choice for withdrawals.
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