Small Dutch banks that focus on offering online banking services are unhappy they may be forced to accept cash from their clients, which will require them to work with Geldmaat, the cashpoint brand set up by ING, ABN Amro and Rabobank.

New legislation aims to ensure that cash does not disappear from the Dutch banking circuit and is currently out to consultation with the Council of State. The new rules would only apply to Dutch institutions and European banks will not have to offer their clients the option to deposit cash.

Francesco Aghemio, head of the Dutch arm of Lithuanian bank Revolut has called the change “badly thought out” and warns that it will have a “lengthy, negative impact on competition in the Dutch banking sector”.

Revolut is classified as Dutch because it has an office here and uses Dutch IBAN numbers. “We are being forced to subsidise an elderly system which is run by the three biggest and most profitable banks in the country,” Aghemio told the Financieele Dagblad.

The law does not state that the online banks must work with Geldmaat but does require them to use a nationwide system for depositing cash. Geldmaat is the only company that does this.

“Geldmaat is not a neutral payment channel,” said a spokesman for Knab. “It is in the hands of the three big banks which chose the fees between them.”

“This is exactly what we decided not to do,” said a spokesman for Bunq. “We deliberately distance ourselves from the cash money infrastructure. This new legislation will punish technological development.”

Geldmaat told the FD that the banks would only have to pay cost price for its services and said “no cent will go to our owners”.

However, the spokesman said, “I can understand the opposition. Online banks will have to set up something that they don’t want their clients to use.”

The finance ministry said it has made some changes to the legislation and small banks would only have to accept notes, not coins.