The Practicalities of Partnership

Bantas is a Turkish based cash in transit (CIT) joint venture between three Turkish commercial banks. With about 1,600 staff, it looks after 48 cash centres, servicing 9,000 ATMs, 2,700 bank branches and 3,300 shops using 425 armoured trucks.

In 2019 Bantas presented on the realities of co-operative cash handling models in Georgia at the Europe Cash Cycle seminar (ICCOS). Since then, Belgium’s four largest banks (Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, ING and KBC) have formed Batopin, joining the long list of countries sharing cash infrastructure, and the world has started to adjust to changing levels of cash usage as a result of the pandemic.

Cash handling operations

There are four elements of cash handling: cash processing and management, security and support, ATM and self-service devices (SSDs) and CIT. Within each of these areas are multiple steps requiring skilled, experienced staff, sound processes and investment in equipment and information systems.