ANZ Australia no longer keeping cash at some branches

A woman was left stunned when a bank teller told her they didn’t have any money to give out from her account and was left so frustrated she closed her account on the spot.

Taryn Comptyn had gone to her bank to withdraw $3500 to pay for renovations but didn’t have her ATM card handy.

‘I thought “that’s fine” I will just go to the teller”,’ she said in a video posted to social media.

‘The teller proceeds to tell me they don’t have cash in the bank anymore that you can only get it out through the ATM but she said “don’t worry I’ll set you card up so you can just tap it in place of your card”.’

However, when Ms Comptyn tried her temporary card with the ATM it kept flashing up an error message. 

‘She (the teller) said “I am really sorry there is nothing we can do”,’ Ms Comptyn said.

‘I was like “what do you mean? I need to get my money out of my bank account.

‘She was like “really sorry, we don’t carry cash here”. ‘

The teller suggest if Ms Comptyn had another bank she could transfer them the cash to access.

‘Lucky for me I am with another bank so I transferred every single penny out of that account, closed the account while I was there and went and got my money out of another bank,’ Ms Comptyn said.

‘But it just got me thinking about our banking system and where we are at and how the hell can you go to a bank and not access your own money.’

Ms Comptyn’s post ‘How the hell can you go to a bank and be told you cannot access your own money?’ attracted plenty of agreement from the more than 34,000 people who have viewed it.

‘Yes they are trying to go digital.. everyone start withdrawing cash so they can’t make the change,’ one person wrote.

‘I definitely have. Got it out while I still could. The world’s gone crazy,’ Ms Comptyn wrote.

‘No money at all at the bank?!’ another person exclaimed.

‘I understand not being able to take out 10k on the spot but like dude!! Don’t carry cash?!’

‘Exactly right ! They don’t carry any cash at all. Blows my mind what’s the good of a bank with no cash?’

In March the ANZ announced that some of its branches in Victoria would no longer carry any cash except in the ATMs

In March the ANZ, which Ms Comptyn strongly hinted ran her cashless branch, announced some of its outlets in Victoria would longer carry physical cash.

The bank did not disclose which branches would be affected and insists only a ‘small number’ will be affected.

ANZ said that only eight per cent of its customers rely on banks for their money as more Australians switch to internet banking.

However, critics warned the move to cashless banks could cause significant harm to older people and those with disabilities who still rely on physical cash.

The number of bank branches in Australia has fallen by about 30 per cent in the last five years.

And ATMs have decreased even more, with figures showing that they have fallen from a high of 14,000 in 2017 to around 6,000 as of last year.

The Reserve Bank estimated just 13 per cent of transactions in late 2022 were in cash, a halving in just three years since the start of the Covid pandemic.

ANZ has been contacted for comment.