Looking back at top news headlines of 2021

This is part of a series looking back at the most read stories of 2021. Click here for the top articles and here for the top blogs.

ATM Marketplace regularly covers critical news in the ATM and banking industry and 2021 was no exception. The most read stories of 2021 covered topics ranging from branch closures to acquisitions to foreign exchange stores.

You can read the top six most read news stories for yourself down below. They are posted in reverse order.

6. Foreign exchange company Travelex launches concept stores

Travelex, a foreign currency exchange, has developed two concept stores at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. These stores will offer ATMs to allow customers to access a variety of currencies, according to a press release.

The stores, the first of which opened in Dec. 2021, feature an open-store design with no glass between the customer and agent desk. Travelex also plans to provide other services such as tax refunds or ATM pre-book and click and collect services in the future.

"We believe that the open store philosophy — combining welcoming, manned desks with as many self-service elements as possible — is the future of the consumer foreign exchange experience," Leonard Stolk, CEO of Travelex Europe, said in the release. "We are delighted to be launching these concept stores at Schiphol airport and are looking forward to rolling out similar stores across our wider international markets in the future."

5. Six arrested in connection with Bitcoin ATM money laundering

The FBI arrested six people in the town of Keene, New Hampshire, on money laundering charges.

Agents removed a Bitcoin ATM from a local bar believed to be used in the crime, according to a report in the New Hampshire Union Leader.

Included in the six arrested was Aria DiMezzo, 34 of Keene, who ran for Cheshire County Sheriff in 2020, and Ian Freeman, believed to be the leader of the group calling itself Free Keene.

The group was brought up on charges related to an unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange that they allegedly ran through churches.

Additionally, DiMezzo was charged with participating in a conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

The money laundering operation is believed to have started in 2016 when the group first opened bank accounts for: the Shire Free Church; The Crypto Church of New Hampshire; the Church of the Invisible Hand and the Reformed Satanic Church.

During the bail hearing, Freeman said he used the account set up for the Shire Free church to pay himself as minister for the church. Freeman allegedly converted dollars for the other members of the group they had acquired from romance fraud, investment fraud and a fraud claiming someone's loved one was in jail.

During a raid of his home last week it was discovered that Freeman had $1.6 million in Bitcoin and $178,000 in cash.

4. State Farm exiting from banking: US Bank to take accounts

Bloomington Illinois-based insurance corporation State Farm has almost completed its transition away from banking a year after it announced that U.S. Bank would assume State Farm Bank's existing deposit and credit card accounts, according to a report in the Pantagraph.

State Farm, one of the nation's major insurance companies, started its bank in 1999 and offered deposit, checking and credit card services that were marketed through its network of nearly 19,000 agents.

With State Farm's exit from banking operations expected to be completed in April, State Farm Bank credit cards are now being converted into new U.S. Bank credit cards. The company said customers have been kept updated throughout the process.

As part of the transition, State Farm Bank is also converting checking, savings, certificate of deposit and money market accounts into U.S. Bank accounts.

Last April, the company also announced HSA Bank would acquire all of State Farm Bank's approximately 24,000 health savings accounts, including an estimated $140 million in deposits.

3. HSBC leaving US retail banking, reshuffles top jobs

HSBC has set plans in motion to leave U.S. retail banking to help the organization cut costs, boost fee income and continue its strong shift towards Asia.

The bank has approximately 150 remaining branches in the U.S. after closing 80 branches last year. By closing all the U.S. branches, HSBC will dispose of the domestic arm of its business that has significantly underperformed, according to a report from CNBC.

The bank also reshuffled several top jobs and appointed Nuno Matos as CEO of its wealth and personal banking business; chief compliance officer Colin Bell became head of HSBC's European business; Michael Roberts was appointed CEO for the U.S. and Americas and Stephen Moss will move to Dubai as head of the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey business.

Moving Moss to Dubai indicates the bank is expanding its presence in the Middle East, which may become a big part of HSBC's strategy to have a greater presence in Asia.

The bank also is also expanding the role of Chief Financial Officer Ewen Stevenson. He will now be in charge of the bank's transformation program and mergers and acquisitions plans.

2. NCR and Cardtronics announce definitive acquisition agreement

NCR Corp. a technology provider for the financial, retail and hospitality industries, and Cardtronics, a non-bank ATM operator and service provider, announced that they have entered into a definitive acquisition agreement, according to a press release.

Under the agreement NCR will acquire all outstanding shares of Cardtronics for $39 per share in an all-cash transaction with an enterprise value of approximately $2.5 billion, including debt. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

1. TD Bank closing 81 branches

TD Bank will close 81 of its 1,223 retail branches, almost 7% of all locations, as the COVID-19 pandemic pushes the financial institution from brick-and-mortar locations into digital banking branches, according to a report in the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Cherry Hill-based TD, the U.S. retail banking arm of Toronto's TD Bank Group, said the closings will take place by April 23 and includes locations in 15 states in the bank's Maine-to-Florida footprint, including 10 of the 123 situated in southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey, and one in Delaware. TD will also shutter 23 locations in five New England states, 21 in the New York City metro area, 14 in Florida, six in the Washington, D.C., metro and four in the Carolinas.