Major bank goes cashless to become 'completely digital'

The banking landscape is undergoing a seismic shift, and Macquarie Bank is at the forefront of this change.

In a move that signals the future of financial transactions, Macquarie Bank has announced that it will transition to a fully digital model, eliminating cash and cheque services at its branches later this month.

This decision is a clear nod to the rapidly evolving consumer behaviour and the increasing reliance on digital banking solutions.



Macquarie Bank announced in September 2023 that it would gradually eliminate cash and cheque services from all its banking and wealth management products between January and November 2024.

From May 20, customers will no longer be able to order new cheque or deposit books, and phone banking services have ceased since the start of March.


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Macquarie Bank announced it will go completely cashless. Credit: Shutterstock


‘Instead, you’ll be able to make payments digitally—a safer, quicker, and more convenient way to bank,’ Macquarie Bank said.

Additionally, Macquarie's partnership with NAB branches will end, meaning that cash and cheque deposits and withdrawals will not be available for Macquarie customers at National Australia Bank (NAB) branches from 1 November.

Commonwealth Bank, NAB, and ANZ have stopped handling cash in some of their branches and reassured customers that they will maintain in-branch cash services.



The Australian Banking Association (ABA) reported that nearly 99 per cent of all customer interactions with banks now occur digitally, while over 1600 Australian bank branches closed between 2017 and 2022.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has noted that the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the decline in cash use, with only around 13 per cent of payments made using cash in 2022, a significant drop from 70 per cent in 2007.

Furthermore, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has highlighted a dramatic decrease in ATM use, from 78 million withdrawals in December 2008 to just 30 million in June 2023.

Despite the decline, RBA reported that cash acceptance remained relatively high, with 94 per cent of businesses still accepting cash as of June 2022 from 99 per cent in February 2020.



Experts have varying opinions on the future of cash.

‘I’d say we’ll be functionally cashless by the end of 2025—it’ll just be a complete rarity,’ Richard Holden, a Professor of Economics at the University of New South Wales Business School, said.

‘But unless the government gets involved to accelerate the process, I think we’ll be actually cashless by 2030.’

Holden also claimed that there were only a few reasons to use cash ‘other than illicit acts or people who want to use cash to hide things from people’.

On the other hand, Chris Vasantkumar, a lecturer at Macquarie University, believed that cash is ‘unlikely to go away completely’.



‘On a personal level, some folks (indeed some societies) have serious concerns about lack of privacy—this is the flip side of a popular argument for moving to cashless transactions—decreased crime as a result of increased transparency,’ Vasantkunar said.

‘But one person’s transparency is another person’s surveillance. How much information about our economic behaviour are we comfortable giving up?’

Dr Angel Zhong, Associate Professor of Finance at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), predicted that 90 per cent of society would go cashless, but ‘it does not mean that cash as a legal tender will lose value or disappear from society’.

‘People who don’t use cash might still be concerned about the security of their digital transactions and the safety of their financial information,’ she said.

‘Even though they don’t use cash, people might still be wary of becoming too dependent on digital technology for everyday transactions.’
Key Takeaways

  • Macquarie Bank will become completely cashless this month as part of its move towards a fully digital service model.
  • The bank is ending cheque and cash services and has already ceased phone banking services, focusing on digital payments, which they deem safer and more convenient.
  • Other big banks in Australia have reassured that they will maintain in-branch cash services despite a general trend of declining cash usage.
  • Experts predicted Australia may become functionally cashless by the end of 2025, though a completely cashless society might only be realised by 2030, and cash is expected to retain value for privacy concerns and as a legal tender.
Have you been affected by the reduction of cash services? Let us know in the comments below.
 
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my husband and have an aged care package each and rely on their staff to do our shopping and pay any bills.
we do not give them our cards so explain how we are supposed get our shopping and others things done.
F & L Smoth.
 
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Macq bank are an investment bank, retail banking is not their main focus, the use of cash through their office would always have been little. Just like many investment banks who have never had cash transactions, just another media beat-up and the masses fall for all the hype.
It's how it starts, they're testing the waters, Macquarie bank used to do cash now they don't, your post doesn't hold water.
 
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Reactions: Greg350
It's how it starts, they're testing the waters, Macquarie bank used to do cash now they don't, your post doesn't hold water.
When I worked in the financial industry in the 80's there were numerous investment type banks in the city, most did not have cash facilities at all, this is nothing new, as I said the latest media hype because of talk of going cashless, which is not happening. Macq Bank have obviously done their numbers and know that cash transactions are a very small percentage of their business.

All this talk of banks driving the cashless economy is just BS, they are responding to the people who are not using cash as much. Yes they close branches and they also are still updating some in prime positions, no one ever mentions them, ones in high activity shopping centre centres get makeovers, new ATMs, more ATMs where the need is there.

So much BS going on at the moment with all the conspiracy theories out there, "Cash is going so they can track us", absolute paranoid delusions from idiots.
 
my husband and have an aged care package each and rely on their staff to do our shopping and pay any bills.
we do not give them our cards so explain how we are supposed get our shopping and others things done.
F & L Smoth.
Use cash like you always have. Don't fall for all the cash is being removed rubbish. I'm sure you are not with Macq Bank are you? Also you can get another card just for this very purpose and limit transactions to a set amount, like $100.
 
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Whats going to happen with markets and garage sales etc when you are unable to except cash?
 
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Reactions: Greg350
Macq bank are an investment bank, retail banking is not their main focus, the use of cash through their office would always have been little. Just like many investment banks who have never had cash transactions, just another media beat-up and the masses fall for all the hype.
......
another media beat-up and the masses fall for all the hype.

Not according to the rather unpleasant bloke who runs the local branch of the ANZ, another lousy bank. He's all for the "digital" economy and was critical of my failure to engage with banking by mobile phone. I hope the "digital" economy makes him redundant, as it has done with the branch's former 4 bank tellers (1 left out of 5).
 
"when did it become law that cash cannot be used" haha, it's always been like that. There is no law stating that cash must be accepted, just a myth. The Australian dollar is legal tender, meaning it's THE currency that's used in Australia, as long as the business has a sign stating cash will not be accepted it's legal.
So pay them by writing a cheque from your cheque book.
 
"when did it become law that cash cannot be used" haha, it's always been like that. There is no law stating that cash must be accepted, just a myth. The Australian dollar is legal tender, meaning it's THE currency that's used in Australia, as long as the business has a sign stating cash will not be accepted it's legal.
Well, It damn well shouldn't be legal ! The Government should prosecute ANY business that refuses to accept Australian Legal Tender.
 
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......


Not according to the rather unpleasant bloke who runs the local branch of the ANZ, another lousy bank. He's all for the "digital" economy and was critical of my failure to engage with banking by mobile phone. I hope the "digital" economy makes him redundant, as it has done with the branch's former 4 bank tellers (1 left out of 5).
So the local bloke at ANZ runs the entire banking system? Or is it just his personal view, which has absolutely nothing to do with the running of banks in this country.
 
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So pay them by writing a cheque from your cheque book.
Not many businesses are stupid enough to accept a piece of paper for payment. Say Rob owns a cafe, customers has his food and says I want to pay by cheque. You say, fine, thanks you??? How do you know the cheque is good, is the account still open, how much money in there, playing with fire.
 
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Whats going to happen with markets and garage sales etc when you are unable to except cash?
Wow, the paranoid thinking on here. You do realise that the Macq Bank is an investment bank and not a retail bank? There are numerous investment banks that have been around for decades that have NEVER had cash facilities. Cash is not going anywhere, just stupid, conspiracy theorists getting into people's heads.
 
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Bang goes the roadside stalls chicken raffles pub raffles ect if cash goes then they will know everthing one does hope this never happens i like cash
Yeah "they" are interested in your visits to Coles and the RSL.
 
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People, stop getting paranoid about what an investment bank has done. Here's a list of the current investment banks in Australia. I can say with certainty that most if not all of these have never dealt with cash transactions, some have been here for decades and have never had cash facilities.

Allen & Company

ANZ

Arma Partners

Bank of America

Barclays

BBY Ltd

Blackstone Group

BNP Paribas

Brown Brothers Harriman

Brown, Shipley & Co.

BTG Pactual

C.W. Downer & Co.

Cain Brothers

Canaccord Financial Inc

Cantor Fitzgerald

Capital Investment Partners

Capstone Partners

Centerview Partners

China International Capital Corporation

CITIC Securities

Citigroup (Citi Institutional Clients Group)

Close Brothers Group

CLSA

Collins Stewart Hawkpoint

Corporate Finance Associates

Cowen Group

Credit Suisse

Daewoo Securities

Defoe Fournier & Cie.

Deutsche bank

Duff & Phelps

Europa Partners

Evercore Partners

FBR Capital Markets

Financo

Foros Group

Gleacher & Co.

Goldman Sachs

Greenhill & Co.

Guggenheim Partners

Guosen Securities

Houlihan Lokey

HSBC

Imperial Capital

Investec

Investment Technology Group

Janney Montgomery Scott

Jefferies & Co.

JPMorgan Chase

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Ladenburg Thalmann

Lazard

Lincoln International

M.M.Warburg & CO

Macquarie International

Marathon Capital

Mediobanca

Miller Buckfire & Co.

Moelis & Company

Morgan Keegan & Company

Morgan Stanley

N M Rothschild & Sons

Needham and Company

Newedge

Oppenheimer & Co.

Panmure Gordon

Park Lane

Perella Weinberg Partners

Piper Jaffray

Pottinger

Raymond James

Robert W. Baird & Company

Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Scotland

Sagent Advisors

Sandler O’Neill + Partners

Sanford Bernstein

SLM Corporate Ltd

Socirale

Stephens Inc.

Stone Key Partners

Sydney Capital Partners

Thomas Weisel Partners

UBS Investment Bank

Vermilion Partners

Wedbush Securities

Wells Fargo Securities

William Blair & Company

WR Hambrecht + Co
 
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Typically more money for the banks every time you use your card and big brother can keep an eye on your life.
1/ Cash costs them to provide, it's not free you know.
2/ So why would big brother be interested in what you do? Coles, the chemist, lol. You are not special. More paranoia.
 
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