ANZ Australia no longer holds cash at some branches

A woman was stunned when a bank clerk told her they had no money to give from her account and was so frustrated she closed it on the spot.

Taryn Comptyn had gone to her bank to withdraw $3,500 to pay for renovations, but didn’t have her debit card handy.

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

The cashier tells me they’re out of cash in the bank, you can only spend it through the ATM, but she said, “Don’t worry, I’ll give you a card so you can just tap it.” instead of your card”.’

However, when Mrs. Comptyn tried her temporary card at the ATM, an error message kept appearing.

‘She (the desk clerk) said, ‘I’m really sorry there’s nothing we can do,’ said Ms Comptyn.

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

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

Ms Comptyn said the cashier suggested she could transfer the money to another bank – if she had one – and consult it there.

“Luckily I’m with another bank so I transferred every penny from that account, closed the account while I was there and went to get my money from the other bank,” Ms Comptyn said.

“But it just got me thinking about our banking system and where we’re at and how on earth can you go to a bank and not have access to your own money.”

Ms. Comptyn’s post ‘How on earth can you go to a bank and be told you can’t access your own money?’ received much approval from the more than 34,000 people who viewed it.

“Yeah they are trying to go digital..everyone is starting to withdraw cash so they can’t make the change,” one person wrote.

‘I sure have. Get it out while you still can. The world has gone mad,’ Mrs Comptyn replied.

“No money at all at the bank?!” exclaimed another.

“I understand I can’t win 10k on the spot, but like a dude!! No cash with you?!’

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

In March, the ANZ, which Ms Comptyn strongly hinted was running its cashless branch, announced that some of its outlets in Victoria would no longer physically carry cash.

The bank did not disclose which branches are involved and maintains that only a “small number” are involved.

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

However, critics warned that the transition to cashless banks could cause significant harm to the elderly and disabled who still rely on physical money.

The number of bank branches in Australia has fallen by about 30 percent over the past five years.

And the number of ATMs has dropped even more, with numbers showing they’ve fallen from a high of 14,000 in 2017 to about 6,000 last year.

The Reserve Bank estimated that only 13 percent of transactions were in cash by the end of 2022, a halving in just three years since the start of the Covid pandemic.

ANZ has been contacted for comment.