Brink’s offers NoteMachine and TestLink UK sales to address CMA concerns

Brink’s has offered to sell NoteMachine and TestLink’s UK business to address concerns over its acquisition of NCR Atleos, the UK Competition and Markets Authority said on 8 October 2026. The regulator will examine the proposals before deciding on clearance, after warning that reduced competition could ultimately raise fees for people using cash machines.

The CMA’s announcement opens a possible route to conditional approval. It does not constitute final clearance of the acquisition or confirmation that either proposed disposal has been agreed with a buyer.

Why the CMA is concerned about ATM competition

Brink’s and NCR together operate more than 50% of all UK cash machines, according to the CMA. Its concerns centre on competition in operating and maintaining ATMs. The announcement does not give the companies’ individual shares of the network.

The regulator’s phase 1 investigation found that the combination would create a very strong market leader facing limited competition from other suppliers. Without remedies, the CMA said, businesses providing ATMs on commercial premises could have fewer options.

Elie Yoo, the CMA’s Senior Director of Mergers, said: “Cash machines remain an important way for many people and businesses to access money and wider banking services, so it is vital that competition is protected.”

What Brink’s proposes to sell

The offered remedies include the sale of Brink’s UK-based NoteMachine business, which provides ATM and cash-management solutions. The second proposed disposal is the UK business of TestLink, a supplier of ATM spare parts. The announcement does not describe a sale of TestLink’s worldwide operations.

According to the CMA, both companies accepted before the formal investigation began that the deal raised competition concerns. The regulator said their swift and constructive engagement helped bring forward its competition decision well ahead of the statutory deadline.

Consultation and buyers come before clearance

The CMA provisionally considers that the proposed undertakings, or a modified version of them, might address its concerns. It will now examine the proposals in greater detail, seek feedback from third parties and consider potential buyers for the businesses.

If the regulator accepts the undertakings, they will become legally binding. Acceptance would result in conditional clearance under the Enterprise Act 2002 without referring the merger to an in-depth phase 2 investigation. Whether the offered remedies meet that test remains undecided.

“We will consult on these proposals before deciding whether they resolve our concerns,” Yoo said. The announcement identifies no buyers or sale prices and gives neither a consultation closing date nor a final decision date.

Cash demand persists as the ATM network shrinks

Separate data from LINK, the UK cash-access and ATM network, shows the scale of cash-machine use amid a continuing decline. Its February report recorded 42,403 UK ATMs at the end of 2025, down about 5% from 44,569 a year earlier. These are historical counts, rather than an October 2026 total.

The end-2025 network included 33,710 free-to-use machines and 8,693 charging machines. Both categories had contracted from the previous year, when LINK recorded 35,468 free machines and 9,101 charging machines.

Average cash withdrawn per UK adult fell to £1,352 in 2025 from £1,424 in 2024, LINK reported. Regional differences remained substantial: the average was £2,249 in Northern Ireland, £1,550 in Scotland and £974 in the South-West.

In that February report, LINK strategy director Graham Mott said: “Even though usage is falling in every part of the UK, cash remains resilient, and essential to millions of people.” His comments predated the CMA announcement and were about cash use, rather than the merger remedies.

Latest LINK figures show billions still withdrawn

LINK’s monthly cash-withdrawal tables, labelled as published on 2 October, record £5.983 billion withdrawn through its network in September 2026, compared with £6.225 billion in September 2025. Across January to September 2026, withdrawals totalled £54.597 billion.

Those figures exclude withdrawals by customers at their own banks’ or building societies’ ATMs, so they are not totals for all UK cash withdrawals. They provide context for continuing demand for cash access; they do not establish any effect of the proposed merger or assess whether Brink’s proposed disposals would resolve the CMA’s concerns.