Surprise surge in Aussie cash use

Cash use across Australia has soared by hundreds of millions over the past few months, with a major cash awareness campaign calling on banks to back an “easily available means of payment” amid rampant closures.

The latest Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) balance sheet data reveals a surge in the value of Australian banknotes since early August – with the number of notes on issue jumping $300m for the week ending October 16.

The figures dipped in July and August and continued to decline over early September, before rapidly rising week-on-week from September 11.

Jason Bryce, from the awareness group Cash Welcome, said the numbers are proof more and more Aussies are turning to physical cash as a reliable and “easily available” means of payment.

He said this was despite Australian banks continuing to “restrict” access to cash by shuttering branches.

Earlier this week, ANZ customers in Katoomba protested after the town’s bank branch was closed.

Mr Bryce accused big banks of regularly leaving towns and suburbs “without a plan” to access cash – urging them to stop the closures and rethink their approach.

“Retailers are not set up to provide people with their payday cash through EFTPOS cash-out,” Mr Bryce said.

ANZ said in a statement that transactions in their branches have halved over the last five years

Just 1 per cent of all transactions were being done over-the counter and almost 4 million customers using mobile apps instead, the bank revealed.

“Since we announced the closure of the branch earlier this year we have been working with our Katoomba branch customers to ensure they are well supported and aware of all the ways they can complete their banking, including utilising nearby branches, local atmx ATMs, phone banking, or our team of community-based bankers, like mobile lenders,” ANZ said in a statement.

But Mr Bryce claimed ANZ was using a loophole, citing another recent closure in Williamstown, in Victoria, along with three ATMs.

He called on banks to outline plans for how their customers would access fee-free cash if branches or ATMs were closed in Australian towns and “ensure there is easy local access to cash in every community”.

“It’s up to banks to support cash as a freely circulating, easily available means of payment – that means there is change in tills and notes in pockets,” he said.

The number of bank-owned branches and ATMS has halved in the past seven years – plunging from 19,508 to 8,836, as of June 30.

But the total value of Australian bank notes circulating in the community has risen 37 per cent – from $73.5b to $100.8b – over the same period.

Despite renewed interest in the use of cash across the country, the use of ATMs across the country has been declining since 2008.

RBA figures reveal the number and value of ATM withdrawals has fallen by about 60 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.

A Senate inquiry examining bank closures across regional Australia was last year told more than 2100 bank branches had closed across the country since 2017 – a 39 per cent reduction in active branches for major metropolitan areas.