Major bank goes cashless to become 'completely digital'
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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.
‘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.’
Have you been affected by the reduction of cash services? Let us know in the comments below.
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.
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.’
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