Over half the ATMs in Croatia could soon be closed due to the introduction of additional regulations for the protection and security, reports HRT.

There are around 6,000 ATMs across Croatia, although banks have already shut down some of these, the ATMs for which they estimated that the cost of their maintenance is greater than the benefit they have from the amount of turnover and the number of customers.

According to the regulations, greater security of the banking network is necessary in order to reduce criminal actions at ATMs. Banks should therefore invest several thousand euros in ATM security. Therefore, they have announced the withdrawal of some ATMs from use, especially those in rural areas.

But these new security issues, one of which is an electrochemical protection system which permanently marks and destroys banknotes in an attempted burglary, isn’t the only problem facing banks. Croatia’s impending entry in the Eurozone and the introduction of the Euro as the official currency means that banks are investing up to 100 million Euros into IT systems.

This has meant that banks are asking the Ministry of the Interior for a compromise solution regarding the security of ATMs.