It is beginning, the drive to end cash. Covid was the first attempt to make people go cashless and use cards, because corona virus germs lurked on bank notes, or some such bs. Now there is the first bank in Australia to begin not giving out cash over the counter. Why? Oh, people are not using the counter services, and are going for internet banking; purely circular reasoning. That may be true, but is not a reason to cut the service out completely; if only eight percent of people use the service, their needs should be met. Bank branches for all banks have decreased across Australia, as have ATMs. It is all part of the movement to Central Bank Digital Currencies.
However, as noted below, this is putting all the eggs in one vulnerable basket, as any disruption to the internet, will down the entire banking system. It is very likely this will occur with increasing cyber-attacks by communist China. So, make sure one has cash on hand, for as long as cash is still accepted.
One of Australia's biggest banks has confirmed that some of its branches will no longer allow customers to withdraw money over the counter.
ANZ bank is stripping back some of its services, with certain branches no longer carrying physical cash.
Instead, customers will be directed to ATMs if they wish to withdraw money - even though these machines are also being cut down across the country.
ANZ said that only eight per cent of its customers rely on banks for their money as more and more Australians switch to internet banking.
However, critics have warned that this could cause significant harm to older people and those with disabilities who still rely on physical cash.
The number of bank branches in Australia has fallen by about 30 per cent in the last five years, a trend that has been mirrored across the world.
And ATMs have decreased even more, with figures showing that they have fallen from a high of 14,000 in 2017 to around 6,000 as of last year.
On Wednesday, it was revealed that cash transactions are dying in Australia with just 13 per cent of purchases now using banknotes or coins.
Tap-and-go cards, mobile payments and direct online transfers make up the rest of all transactions, with the share of cash purchases halving in just three years.
The Reserve Bank estimated just 13 per cent of transactions in late 2022 were in cash, a halving in just three years since the start of the pandemic.
Contactless tap-and-go payments, where a customer used their mobile smartphone, made up a third of transactions, with younger consumers more likely to pay this way.
Cyber security expert Ben Britton, who works as a chief information security officer, said a cyber attack could stop the major banks from conducting electronic transactions linked to their EFTPOS terminals.
'That entire system is dependent on an internet connection to work so if there's any interruption in the internet connection, then people will not be able to make any payment,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
'If there was a major cyber attack, if there was a vulnerability within that terminal and it was exploited, then they could potentially shut down every terminal in the entire country.'
This could occur if hackers figured out how to exploit a banking computer code.”