The Implications of Mandated Cash Acceptance and Regional Bank Branch Levies

Matt Sykes of The CPT Group has published an interesting article on LinkedIn ¹. While it discusses recent changes, and possible changes, to the Australian cash system, the article raises questions for all.

The prompt for the article was the announcement of a consultation by the Australian Treasury into making cash acceptance by certain categories of retailer compulsory – groceries and fuel, for example – to support the ability of consumers to use cash for basic goods and services.

There is also unconfirmed talk of a levy on banks to support regional branch and ATM banking in order to support the availability of physical banking (particularly cash banking) in regional communities.

Should they go ahead, the future of cash in Australia will be more certain than it is now.