LINK is a British
interbank network. It is the largest interbank network in
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
Network
The network counts 38 member institutions, of which many are various
bank
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Because ...
s and
building societies
A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization. Building societies offer banking and related financial services, especially savings and mortgage lending. Building societies exist in the United Kingdo ...
issuing LINK
cash card
Payment cards are part of a payment system issued by financial institutions, such as a bank, to a customer that enables its owner (the cardholder) to access the funds in the customer's designated bank accounts, or through a credit account and ma ...
s, and the remainder are independent cash machine operators who do not issue cards.
The network connects over 70,000
cash machines
An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, fund ...
– virtually every cash machine in the United Kingdom.
The LINK scheme is administered by LINK Scheme Ltd., based in Leeds, Yorkshire.
The LINK network infrastructure is operated by
Vocalink, a company formed in 2007 by the merger of LINK Interchange Network Limited and Voca Limited. The LINK cash machine scheme is a separate entity which is run by the scheme members.
In addition to providing the core cash machine transaction switching and settlement service to LINK network members, VocaLink provides outsourced cash machine, card and mobile payment services and provides access to
Post Office counters for basic banking transactions.
UK issued debit cards generally come with a LINK
EMV
EMV is a payment method based on a technical standard for smart payment cards and for payment terminals and automated teller machines which can accept them. EMV stands for " Europay, Mastercard, and Visa", the three companies that created th ...
application in addition to a point-of-sale EMV application that can be
Visa Debit
Visa Debit is a major brand of debit card issued by Visa in many countries around the world. Numerous banks and financial institutions issue Visa Debit cards to their customers for access to their bank accounts. In many countries the Visa Debit ...
,
Debit MasterCard
Debit Mastercard is a brand of debit cards provided by Mastercard. They use the same systems as standard Mastercard credit cards but they do not use a line of credit to the customer, instead relying on funds that the customer has in their bank ...
,
Maestro
Maestro (; from the Italian '' maestro'' , meaning "master" or "teacher") is an honorific title of respect (plural: maestros or maestri). The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and opera, in line with the ubiqu ...
,
Visa Electron
Visa Electron is a debit card product that uses the Visa payment system. It is offered by issuing banks in every country with the exception of Canada, Australia, Argentina, Ireland and the United States. The difference between Visa Electron an ...
or
UnionPay
UnionPay (), also known as China UnionPay () or by its abbreviation, CUP or UPI internationally, is a Chinese state-owned financial services corporation headquartered in Shanghai, China. It provides bank card services and a major card sch ...
[ICBC (London) plc]
China UnionPay Debit Card
. Retrieved 11 April 2015 applications.
As of 2016, there were about 54,000 free to use cash machines, of which 23,600 were provided by independent suppliers, and 16,000 cash machines that charge for withdrawals. Throughout 2016 and 2017 discussions were ongoing over a new charging system, as larger LINK members considered the interchange fee too high.
See also
*
ATM usage fees
*
Euro Alliance of Payment Schemes The Euro Alliance of Payment Schemes (EAPS) was an international alliance of European bank and interbank networks that had aimed to creating a pan-European debit card
A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card is a payment card t ...
References
External links
VocaLink Home pageLINK UK homepage
{{Interbank networks
Interbank networks
Financial services companies of the United Kingdom
1985 establishments in the United Kingdom