Big Aussie banks shut NT branches and ATMs

Australia’s big four banks have raked in billions of profit, but closed hundreds of branches and ATMs. See where you can’t get money anymore.

Almost one in every three cash machines in the Northern Territory has been closed by Australia’s big banks over the last three years.

The ATM cutbacks came in addition to the closure of a bank branch in Darwin, and despite rising, multibillion-dollar profits for Australia’s financial institutions, and the threat of a federal taskforce investigating regional banking services.

Figures obtained by News Corp showed the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and NAB closed 459 bank branches across Australia between 2019 and 2021, and shuttered 3,803 ATMs.

The Northern Territory saw 51 ATMs close during this time — 31 per cent of all cash machines in the state — leaving bank customers with fewer places to access their funds.

The cutbacks also left 42 towns with no local ATM, and 52 towns without a local bank branch.

The cost-cutting came despite soaring profits for all four of Australia’s big banks, as the Commonwealth Bank reported a half-year cash net profit of $4.75 billion — up 23 per cent — and ANZ, Westpac and NAB recorded increased profits of $1.8 billion for the first quarter of the year.

Australian Banking Association chief executive Anna Bligh said the institutions were shutting branches and ATMs as part of a “massive transformation” in the way many Australians wanted to handle their finances and pay for goods.

Almost one in every three cash machines in the Northern Territory has been closed by Australia’s big banks over the last three years. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

She said banks had seen a 10 per cent decrease in consumers using cash, and Australians were using ATMs less as a result.

“We’ve got data that tells us 80 per cent of Australians prefer to do most of their bank services online or by the phone,” Ms Bligh said.

“But that still leaves a lot of people who are uncomfortable in those channels, and that’s why banks are still committed to keeping a branch network even though it may reduce in size.”

But Finance Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano said closing so many bank branches and ATMs was hurting communities, particularly in regional areas, as well as excluding bank customers who weren’t equipped to use online services.

“Closures have a devastating impact on local communities,” she said. “Jobs are lost, business is impacted and another local service disappears.

“Customers with disabilities, low levels of digital literacy and those with limited access to transport and, of course, older Australians (are affected).”

Julia Angrisano, national secretary of the Finance Sector Union. Picture: Hollie Adams/The Australian

Ms Angrisano said new regulations should be introduced to ensure banking was recognised as an essential service.

“There should be minimum levels of service that are guaranteed,” she said.

“There needs to be a better assessment of community needs before a branch is closed. We would like to see community impact assessments become mandatory before a branch is shut.”

Swinburne University Adjunct Professor Steve Worthington warned banks were likely to keep closing branches and ATMs to maximise profits unless laws changed.

In a UK trial to address the same issue, he said banks were now being asked to prove customers would not be unfairly inconvenienced by the closure of a local branch before it could go ahead.

“If a bank intends to close a bank branch or take an ATM out of circulation, they have to prove that their customer base will not be disadvantaged,” he said.

“The expectation is that they’d have to put in alternative access arrangements, like mobile banking or cash deliveries.”

The Federal Government launched the Regional Banking Taskforce in late 2021 to address bank branch closures. It was due to report its findings in February but a Treasury spokesman said the report had yet to be finalised.