Commonwealth Bank removes more ATMS as branch fees rise

The nation’s largest bank is likely to reduce the number of ATMs as customers cop higher charges if they seek assistance in branches.

The nation’s largest bank is likely to rip out more ATMs at the same time they are slugging customers higher charges if they seek assistance in branches.

The Commonwealth Bank’s chief executive officer Matt Comyn spoke at a customer forum in Brisbane on Monday night in front of 200 customers.

When quizzed by the audience which was webcast around the country about the removal of ATMs, he said this would continue.

The CBA will remove more ATMs, the CEO has confirmed. Picture: AAP

“Overall there is a lot less cash so we won’t be increasing the number of ATMs, the number of ATMs will actually reduce over time,” Mr Comyn said.

“There are 3500 (ATMs), we would probably be the largest provider, I’m guessing there would be 20,000 (ATMs) or so.”

It comes after News Corp last week revealed the banking giant jacked up the price of fees on November 1 for customers who ask staff in a branch to help them complete a transaction from $2.50 to $3.

It also doubled the cost for customers who write cheques from $1.50 to $3.

On the back of more ATMs being removed Mr Comyn said, “I’ve recognised the challenges to accessibility of all banking services including cash”.

In the 2018/19 financial year the CBA shut 39 branches and ripped out 208 ATMs across the country.

News Corp last week revealed the CBA has jacked up the price of fees for customers who ask staff in a branch to help them complete a transaction.

When questioned on interest rates Mr Comyn said the bank was doing it utmost to remain competitive on deals both for savers and borrowers.

“We are very conscious about making sure we are very competitive, of course we always want to be competitive on price,” he said.

“We want to recognise and reward all of customers, existing, loyal, longstanding but we want the bank to provide more than just price.”

When quizzed on why CBA had failed to pass on the Reserve Bank of Australia’s three cash rate cuts totally 0.75 percentage points in 2019 in full, Mr Comyn said there was “a number of different factors”.

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It’s been a horror few weeks for the Commonwealth Bank.

“We try and make the right decisions across a number of different customers in particularly borrowers and savers who have different needs,” he said.

“We have 7 million customers who have deposits and save with us and about 1.8 to 1.9 million customers who have home loans.

“Our most popular savings account, the Netbank Saver, we’ve taken that down 40 basis points.

“It will always be an important question and challenge that we are able to explain the decisions we are making.”

It’s been a horror few weeks for CBA after a giant outage left customers unable to receive their salaries.

The bank then controversially dished out $50 in compensation to about 150,000 customers who were impacted, but left many without a bonus despite being disrupted by the mass glitch.

It was also revealed by News Corp the bank handed over cash bonuses to 500 of the lowest-paid staff but then asked for it back.

This decision was consequently backflipped on by the bank after the Finance Sector Union got involved.

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Originally published as Commonwealth Bank removes more ATMS as branch fees rise