NEW research from Canstar has revealed the pace of bank branch closures outside capital cities has eased in the 2024 financial year, with 52-shutting compared with 122 during the previous year.

Bank branch closures in non-regional areas brought the total ATM closures in Australia to 230.

Canstar’s data insights director, Sally Tindall, said the slower rate of bank closures was hardly a ‘win’ for regional customers who depend on brick-and-mortar banks.

“Bank branches are continuing to disappear as banking and payments increasingly go digital,” she said.

“However, a branch or ATM closure in a shopping centre where there are alternatives nearby is very different to a branch closure in outback Australia that forces people into the car, in some cases for hours, to get to and from their  nearest branch.

“While the number of branches outside of the major cities continued to fall, the pace of these closures has at least slowed. Last financial year, the number of branches dropped by 52, however in the year prior it was more than double this at 112.

“That said, if you ask anyone who was relying on those 52 branches to do their day-to-day banking, they won’t exactly be chalking this up as a win.

“Importantly, CBA, Westpac and ANZ have pledged not to close any regional branches through to the end of 2026, at a minimum, which should hopefully see the number of regional branch closures continue to slow in next year’s data.

“The big question is, what will happen beyond this commitment from CBA, Westpac and ANZ?”

Meanwhile, fresh data from the Reserve Bank pointed to cash making a potential comeback with the total number of ATM withdrawals jumping by 2.7 per cent from July to August this year, almost an extra 768,000 withdrawals.

However, only around seven percent of transactions in 2024 have been made with cash compared to back in 2007 when there was around 69 per cent of transactions, a huge reduction.

Many older and regional Australians still prefer cash.

Also the backlash more recently over credit and debit card surcharges may point to the reason people have been preferring to use cash as opposed to digital.

“Cash might not rule the roost anymore but there’s still plenty of Australians that rely on it as a way to pay for things,” Ms Tindall said.

“The latest ATM statistics from the RBA shows Australians withdrew $107 billion in the last 12 months alone - that’s a lot of cash.

“Banks, government and regulators will need to continue collaborating on solutions as … payments and banking platforms evolve.”