Key facts
- Location/region: Southwest Pacific
- Population: 27.2 million (2024)
- Urbanisation: 90% (2024)
- GDP per capita: USD64,407 (2024)
- Currency: Australian dollar (USD1 = AUD1.50)
- Cash usage % and trend: Australia has moved to an increasingly low-cash market, with the most recent RBA study suggesting 13% of consumer payments are cash, down from 70% in 2007. There are indications of a flattened trend, with ATM withdrawals since the last of the COVID lockdowns remaining at the same level month-on-month
- ATMs:
- Number: 23,985 (2025)
- ATMs per 1,000 people: 0.88
- Average withdrawal: AUD320 (USD213)
- Trend: Modest downward trend, from a peak of 32,879 in December 2016 (decline rate of around 2-2.5% per year)
- Number of bank branches: 3,360 in 2024, decline rate of 7.2% since 2017
Roles in the cash system
- Regulators
- Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA): Issues banknotes, oversees policy on payments and cash distribution. Outsources physical distribution to the industry through the banknote distribution framework
- Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA): Supervises banks/ADIs
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC): Reviews mergers and competition issues
- Treasury/Federal Government: Oversees policy consultations, such as proposals for mandated cash acceptance for essential goods and services.
- Commercial Banks
- The “Big Four” banks – Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Westpac, National Australia Bank (NAB), ANZ – dominate deposits and retail banking
- Over 120 other “authorised deposit-taking institutions” (ADIs), of which around 60 have some level of retail branch presence. This includes large listed banks such as Bendigo Bank through to a dynamic mutual banking sector
- Banks provide customer-facing cash access via branches and ATMs. Many banks have entered into agreements with Australia Post to provide basic services through the Post Office network.
- CIT Operators
- Following the merger of Armaguard and Prosegur Australia in 2023, the combined entity captures some 90% of the CIT market
- Other CIT Operators with “ACCO” (Authorised Cash Centre Operator) status include Streamcorp Armoured, Authentic Security, and Brink’s (though Brink’s has no domestic CIT operations)
- CIT Operators hold bank cash in their cash centres, process and transport cash, and can provide a range of related services such as cash forecasting, ATM monitoring and maintenance, and retail cash technology
- ATM Deployers
- Since the abolition of interchange on ATM transactions some 15 years ago Australia has had a large independent ATM deployer presence. Non-bank ATMs account for some 60% of the national ATM network. Major deployers include NCR, Next Payments and Banktech
How cash distribution works
- RBA: Produces banknotes (coins produced by the Royal Australian Mint). Big 4 banks purchase notes from the RBA
- Commercial banks: Big 4 banks source notes from the RBA under a banknote distribution agreement (BDA), and are responsible for holding and distribution (which is outsourced to CITs). The BDAs do not substantively cover distribution considerations for non-Big 4 banks or retailers
- CITs: Responsible for all cash logistics, cash holding, processing (including fitness sorting), and retail distribution. Retail distribution is typically facilitated through a “commercial cash facility” (CCF) with one of the Big 4 banks
Because of the BDA and CCF structure, no party has a detailed view of cash distribution or activity. While the BDA approach was historically highly efficient, it has more recently come under scrutiny.
The state of play of cash and payments
- Cash is proportionately low in consumer usage. Users are stratified, which means that a meaningful subset of the population are high users, even being reliant on cash as a means of payment
- Card usage is high and expansive. The use of cards loaded onto mobile wallets is relatively high (44% of card-present transactions)
- There is a dynamic payments community who seek to innovate in payment methods. That said, innovation tends to be slow, and industry regulatory frameworks are not adaptive to the development of new solutions, leading to frustration in the neobank/fintech community
- Australians are said to be ‘hooked’ on card loyalty programs, especially associated with frequent flyer points (the Qantas frequent flyer program has over 17 million members), which influences card activity
Recent events
- The 2023 merger of Armaguard and Prosegur, and subsequent events that have driven major industry participants to financially support the business, have had a significant effect on industry dynamics
- The Council of Financial Regulators (including the RBA, APRA, Treasury, and the ACCC) are reviewing regulatory interventions for the cash in transit industry
- The RBA is conducting a high profile review of card surcharging, which is likely to result in a ban on card surcharges along with possible other interventions on merchant fees and interchange
- The government is considering a cash acceptance mandate, which would, at a minimum, force large retailers who sell essential goods and services to accept cash
Our observation
Cash as a form of payment in Australia has been relatively ‘unloved’ for many years. The events leading up to and following the Armaguard-Prosegur merger have shone a spotlight on the industry and the cash system more broadly. While there has been little substantive change to date at a system level, we believe it is likely that changes are on their way, including regulatory intervention and industry change.
It is evident that cash usage has been stable for a number of years, and therefore putting in place changes so that all key participants are comfortable with their medium-long term responsibilities, costs, and benefits, will be critical.