Citi is removing cash from its Australian bank branches, because it is no longer worth offering a service that is used by less than one in twenty customers. As consumers embrace digital banking and the role of cash dwindles, the US bank said its six Australian retail branches would remove cash handling services, because of falling demand from customers who instead manage their money digitally.
While Citi is a small force in domestic retail banking, the move is a sign of how banks are being forced to reinvent branches in the face of a boom in digital transactions on mobile and contactless payments. It came as UBS analysts even floated the idea of phasing out high-value Australian bank notes altogether, a change it said would lower crime, boost tax collections and strengthen the banks’ deposit holdings. FULL REPORT
