The quantity of ATMs and bank offices has dropped by more than one out of 10 in the last monetary year, as banks and clients move their exchanges on the web.
The most recent APRA Points of Presence data for June 2023, which was made public yesterday, shows that the number of branches has decreased by 35% in the past five years and 11% in the past year (30 June 22-30 June 23).
In addition, the number of ATMs has continued to decline, falling by 11% in the most recent fiscal year. ATM numbers have more than divided over the most recent five years (- 55%).
Australians are increasingly switching to electronic banking over cash, which is reflected in this trend. According to the most recent consumer payment survey conducted by the RBA, cash will only make up 13% of all payments in 2022, which is more than 50% less than it was just three years earlier (27% in 2019).
In 2022, approximately 7% of Australians were considered to be “high cash users,” or those who use cash for at least 80% of their in-person transactions. The RBA estimates that this percentage has also decreased by half since 2019.
All things considered, cash utilization, while dropping, isn’t down and out. According to the most recent data from the RBA, almost 29 million transactions worth $8.56 billion in seasonally adjusted terms were made in August 2023 from ATMs all over Australia.
APRA Points of Presence: branches During the most recent fiscal year, there was a decrease in the number of branches by 142 in NSW; however, the largest percentage change was observed in Victoria (-13.4%).
Westpac kept the biggest dump in the quantity of branches out of the enormous four banks in the last monetary year (- 22%), notwithstanding, this is to some degree, a consequence of the bank’s procedure to combine branches across its brands to empower Westpac, St George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA clients to get to any Westpac Gathering branch. In the most recent financial year, 42 branches with two or more branches were co-located, according to Westpac.
Australia’s greatest bank, CBA, kept the most minimal number of terminations in rate terms at 9%.
Points of Presence for APRA: ATMs The total number of Australian ATMs decreased by 718 in the most recent fiscal year, or 11%.
There were 55% fewer ATMs in FY2019, or almost 7,000 fewer than in FY2018.
Western Australia saw the largest annual percentage drop (-14%), with the cities experiencing the largest annual drop (-12%).
Since 2017, all Australians have access to the big four banks’ ATMs for free, but the total number of these ATMs is still decreasing. According to the most recent data from APRA, the number of big bank ATMs has decreased by 53% since June 2018 and by 9% in the previous fiscal year.
However, in addition to their own ATMs, Armaguard has a network of over 1,700 ATMs that Westpac and ANZ provide to their customers for free.
The number of “other face-to-face” points of presence, as defined by APRA, which includes Bank@Post services, continues to be a widespread service in local communities. Bank@Post remains an important option.
Bank@Post is a help given by Australia Post outlets where clients can perform essential financial administrations, for example, saving and pulling out cash, on the off chance that their bank partakes in the plan.
The number of these points of presence increased by 0.2% in the most recent fiscal year, according to APRA data, but decreased by 5% over the previous five years.
According to research conducted by RateCity.com.au, approximately 74% of the database’s banks offer Bank@Post services to their customers.
This includes major banks like CBA, Westpac, and NAB, as well as online-only banks like ING and smaller credit unions that only have a few branches in a few places.
ANZ doesn’t give its clients Bank@Post access.
Credit only branches?
RateCity.com.au research also reveals that a small number of CBA, NAB, and ANZ storefronts only offer access to ATMs and do not accept deposits or cash withdrawals over the counter.
All Westpac branches permit clients to store and take out cash over the counter.
Sally Tindall, the director of research at RateCity.com.au, stated: Cash is no longer the king, but it is still not dead.
She stated, “The RBA statistics show that over $8 billion is withdrawn from ATMs across the country every single month, confirming that we are not yet a cashless society.”
“While most of banking administrations have moved on the web, a few clients actually really like to execute up close and personal, while others depend on in-branch banking since they need to store or pull out a lot of money, whether that is for their business, the neighborhood footy club, or to pay for something they’ve purchased second hand to keep away from tricksters.
Although Westpac may have experienced the greatest number of branch closures during the previous fiscal year, this is in part attributable to the merging of branches across the banking group. Clients of Westpac, St George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA can all entrance teller offices from a similar area.
“Banks have had to reevaluate their points of presence as a result of the shift to online banking. To counter this, a few banks have chosen to piggyback on existing offices, for example, outsider ATM organizations and Australia Post branches to give clients more admittance to essential administrations.
“Australia Post branches assume a significant part in keeping rivalry in the financial area alive, due to the essential financial administrations they give.
“The fact that they can head to their nearest post office if they need to deposit or withdraw a reasonable amount of cash is reassuring for many customers who choose a smaller bank or credit union with a limited branch network.
However, Bank@Post’s limited services are not a direct substitute for full-service branches.
The issue of branch closures in remote and regional areas received 566 submissions to the Senate inquiry.
“Banks offer a significant support in territorial and distant networks that reaches out past the essential things of tolerating and administering cash.
She stated, “The Senate is rightly investigating the impact of these closures, and will no doubt be taking into account this most recent round of APRA data.”
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