biggest bank is now charging its customers a fee if they want to withdraw their own money at a branch.
Commonwealth Bank said in an email sent to customers on Monday that it would be closing its ‘Complete Access Account’ and migrating customers to its ‘Smart Access Account’.
The new account from January 6 will includes a $3 fee tacked onto every withdrawal at a branch, a post office or by phone.
The bank in recent years has remained tight-lipped on whether it is transitioning its branch network to ‘cashless’ after opening a number of ‘Specialist Centres’, which do not have tellers that handle physical cash.
These Specialist Centres focus on business and home loan products, credit facilities and merchant services, while customers who are looking to deposit or withdraw cash are either directed to digital banking or ATMs.
In August this year, Commonwealth Bank said it was costing about $350million a year for it to keep physical cash in its network and it was a ‘challenging commercial model’.
When the Specialist Centres first started appearing, this masthead asked in July last year if the bank was looking to phase out physical cash and received a response which seemed to sidestep the question.
‘Commonwealth Bank has created a very small number of Specialist Centres in major metropolitan areas, which are designed to support personal and business customers with more complex banking needs,’ s spokesperson said at the time.
‘These Specialist Centres provide customers with face-to-face access to specialist home and business lenders, and also offer the latest self-service technologies. All of our Specialist Centres are in major metropolitan locations and very nearby to full-service branches.
‘We continue to maintain ‘s largest branch network for customers.’
More to follow.