The Commonwealth Bank has opened a number of ‘cashless’ branches with customers no longer able to access their money over-the-counter.
Teller cash transactions are not available at branches including Commonwealth Bank Place in the centre of Sydney along with the nearby South Eveleigh, Barangaroo, and University of Sydney, which the bank now calls ‘specialist centres’.
Daily Mail Australia also understands some ‘specialist centre’ branches in Brisbane and Melbourne no longer permit over the counter cash withdrawals and deposits.
Deposits and withdrawals can still be made via on-site ATMs but for those who don’t have their bankcard handy things get much more difficult.
‘Cardless cash’ withdrawals of up to $500 a day using the CommBank app are available, but for those who need more funds or don’t have their phone with them, their money can’t be accessed.
Over-the-counter cash transactions are not available at some Commonwealth Bank branches, including this one in Barangaroo
Customers will need to locate a branch that still does offer teller transaction and travel there.
Daily Mail Australia had contacted CommBank for comment.
Many Aussies are outraged by the Commonwealth Bank’s decision to open more cashless branches.
‘Bank branches without money? WTF! That’s like having a petrol station with no fuel! Do they expect people to call into the branch just to say hi and have a chat,’ one said.
The shift to cashless branches follows another of Australia’s ‘big four’ banks also making the switch with very little warning.
ANZ said in March that it was stripping back some of its services and that certain branches would no longer carrying physical cash.
The bank didn’t disclose at the time which branches would be affected but insisted only a ‘small number’ would impacted.
One ANZ customer, Taryn Comptyn, was left shocked when she visited her local ANZ Bank branch to withdraw $3,500 over the counter for a renovation payment because she didn’t have her bank card with her.
‘I thought ‘that’s fine’ I will just go to the teller’,’ she said in an online video.
‘The teller proceeds to tell me they don’t have cash in the bank anymore, that you can only get it out through the ATM but she said ‘don’t worry I’ll set you a card up so you can just tap it in place of your card’.’
However, when Ms Comptyn tried her temporary card at the ATM it repeatedly flashed up an error message.
Ms Comptyn said the teller suggested that she could transfer the cash to an account with another bank – if she had one – and access it there.
‘Lucky for me I am with another bank so I transferred every single penny out of that account, closed the account while I was there and went and got my money out of the other bank,’ Ms Comptyn said.
In March the ANZ announced that some of its branches in Victoria would no longer carry any cash except in the ATMs
ANZ Customer Taryn Compton found out only when she tried to access her cash
In a statement, ANZ said it stood by its move to go cashless behind the counter – and clarified which branches are affected.
‘At ANZ we have seen in-branch transactions fall 50 per cent over the past five years, with just one per cent of transactions now done over the counter and 96 per cent conducted digitally,’ a spokesperson said.
‘Some ANZ branches no longer handle cash at the counter, but continue to have cash available through our onsite Smart ATMs.’
ANZ said affected branches are all located in metropolitan areas and are within 10km of the nearest branch with over-the-counter service.
‘At these branches, cash and cheque deposits and cash withdrawals can continue to be made by using our Smart ATM and coin deposit machines, and we have staff on hand to help customers using them for the first time.
‘These branches are all located in metropolitan areas and are within 10km of the next nearest branch with over-the-counter services.’
The dominance of digital banking has sparked fears that society has become too reliant on potentially vulnerable systems.
Commonwealth customers were left paralysed after the bank’s app went down earlier this month , leaving them unable to access their accounts, transfer funds online or use their cards to make purchases.
The outage triggered a deluge of angry calls and social media posts from concerned customers who demanded to know why they could not use the bank’s services, including some ATMs.
Now experts have argued the troubling Commonwealth bank episode is an insight into what can go wrong when people rely too much on online banking instead of old-fashioned cash.
Cyber security expert Ben Britton, who works as a chief information security officer, told Daily Mail Australia events like these exposed the vulnerabilities of relying too heavily on digital payments.
‘If there’s no internet, there’s no transactions, there’s no access to your money,’ he said.
‘But if you have your money in your hand, or in your pocket, there could be no electricity and you’ll still be able to make payments to people.’
‘The huge weakness to the system is that it’s dependent on the internet, internet secuity and individual device security.
‘Whereas no one can remotely access the cash in your pocket.’
There are major security concerns with online banking too.
Often fraudsters can pose as banks and catch unwitting customers off-guard and convince them to transfer large sums of money in a instant.
An Australian businessman was recently conned out of $130,000 in a sophisticated text message scam after a fraudster sent him a message from the same number used by his bank.
It comes after research published in January found that physical cash is set to almost vanish from circulation within a decade.
Independent payments market expert Lance Blockley estimated that by 2025 traditional cash would make up less than 4 per cent of total retail purchases across the country.
Mr Blockley, who is the managing director of consulting firm The Initiatives Group, said in a submission to the ACCC in 2021 that banknotes across all uses, not just retail, would be at 10.2 per cent in 2025 down from 24.2 per cent in 2019.
But Mr Britton said online transactions have opened new frontiers for criminals in terms of the number of people they can target and the vast sums of money they can steal.
‘If you look at cyber criminal organisation or individuals that are cyber criminals who wish to rob a large amount of people, they can rob millions of dollars from tens of thousands of people in one day,’ he said.
‘That would not be possible to go and do that on the street, robbing individual citizens of their cash money.’
Mr Britton said many criminals have stopped selling drugs, instead turning to online fraud because it is far more profitable and they are far less likely to be caught.
‘The old system, coins and physical cash, has worked for thousands of years. It’s undoubtedly got its problems but we know what they are,’ he said.
‘But if you look at the digital world, there’s so many unknown problems that we haven’t even encountered yet.’
Another disadvantage to a cashless society is the lack of privacy. Whenever you pay for something digitally it leaves a digital footprint, which can be monitored by banks.
Banks are frequently hit with data breaches whether through hacking or mistakes, exposing customer’s data to criminals.
In November, 9.7 million current and former customers of Medibank had their details exposed in a major data breach when an unnamed group hacked the health insurers system.
A Brisbane mother-of-three shared an elegantly simple explanation of why cash is superior to paying by card
A cashless society also effectively shuts out many elderly people, who have always used physical currency and are more likely to be less tech savvy.
National Seniors Australia Chief Advocate Ian Henschke told Daily Mail Australia the decline in the use of cash was ‘no doubt accelerated by COVID-19’.
‘While we understand the move to a more cashless society – and closely related – the phasing out of cheques, ATM and bank closures, are a part of progress, these decisions should be made with seniors in mind,’ he warned.
‘Some seniors may not be comfortable banking or doing business online because they’re not tech savvy, they’re fearful of potential online scams, cash is what they’ve always known, and they have no other way to make financial transactions.
‘Cash is still a valid form of currency. And, as we’ve seen many times before, online banking or doing any business online can come with problems and risks.’
Rural communities could also be left vulnerable by such a move, because of poor broadband and mobile connectivity.
Some have also argued a move away from cash payments makes it harder for hard-pressed families to budget as its easier to lose track of spending when its not a tangible currency you can see in your wallet or purse.
Also, many credit card and mobile payments come with a processing charge, which can restrict the profit margins of smaller, independent businesses. In many cases, these charges will be passed back on to the consumer.
