Australian bank branches and ATMs are vanishing

Branches close, ATMs removed. Photo: JEK

BANKS REMOVING SERVICES

The number of ATMs across the nation is continuing to decline, after at least 2150 terminals were removed in the recent June 2020 quarter, according to the Australian Payments Network.

Australia’s big four banks — ANZ, Commonwealth, NAB and Westpac — also shut up a combined 175 branches in the last 12 months. My local area is almost a ghost town here in Queensland.

Of the 175 branch closures recorded, ANZ had the highest number with 68, followed by the Commonwealth with 44, Westpac had 36 while NAB shut 27.

The new reported commented on the changes, stating: “Australia’s banks have invested heavily to keep up with the customers banking preferences, with technology and data now playing a key role”.

“Overall the bank expects the long-term downward trend in the use of cash to continue.”

Not only have the closures divided public opinion and helped Australia’s transition to digital technocracy, it has also left 2.5 million elderly people who don’t do online banking inconvenienced.

National Seniors Australia advocate, Ian Henschke, said many of the elderly feel more comfortable using cash amid a fear of being scammed online:

“Many of them are older Australians and taking away services from them is going to be extremely difficult for them,” he said.

The banks will maintain a network of 900 branch ATMs for now, as well as what they call “strategically important” offsite locations. Although, this doesn’t seem to include regional areas.

Currently, as the closures happen, regional towns fear they will completely lose NAB branches altogether, as opening times are cut to just three hours a day.

From this week, 114 NAB branches in regional and rural areas across the country will slash operating hours, including 23 in Queensland. The branches will now open at 9:30am and close at 12:30pm.

The cash economy, already under attack and in annual decline, is taking yet another turn. Once again, we are seeing the coronavirus ‘crisis’ being used as the justification for these changes.

PROBLEM, REACTION, SOLUTION

Since the beginning of this mass psychological operation, we have seen a number of shifts in society, including work-from-home normalisation, the increase of automation and much more.

Importantly, the number of cash withdrawals at ATMs and shop registers has fallen off a cliff.

Research conducted by MyState Bank found that since the ‘pandemic outbreak’, more than two-thirds (or 68%) of Australians are using less cash in favour of contactless technology.

This is understandable given that under lockdowns, most aren’t permitted to travel very far and many believe media propaganda about ‘cash spreading coronavirus’. This isn’t the case, however.

Of those who reported using less cash, 67% said they expect to continue using digital payments methods instead of cash, even after the lockdowns have subsided.

The fear has become so engrained that most shops have displayed signs asking customers to pay with cards to minimise transmission. Others have gone further and banned cash outright.

We must ask the question: Did the pandemic actually cause this change? Or did the narrative drive the actions of the masses to act? I think all readers of TOTT News know the answer to this one.

Let’s not forget customers began drawing large sums of cash from their accounts as coronavirus shutdowns occured. We have heard many stories of banks denying large sum withdrawals.

How can they say cash withdrawals and spending are down when these actions were blocked?

Australian Retailers Association Chief Executive, Paul Zahra, said the coronavirus will forever change the way Australians buy and sell goods when speaking to the media.

“We know that nearly half of Australians have decreased their use of cash when making purchases in person because of coronavirus fears around cash handling,” he said.

“We expect new habits in the way we pay will become permanent for many Australians.”

Create the conditions necessary for a digital switch and drive home the message through media PR campaigns. Problem, reaction, solution — once again we are seeing the tactic displayed.

The current push is the culmination of an ongoing shift for many years towards a cashless society.

CASHLESS SOCIETY

To understand just why the Mind Virus is such an important piece of the puzzle, we must take a look at Australia’s cash decline before the pandemic event began. The wheels were already in motion.

Now valued at an estimated $79 billion per year, the digital payments industry — including payless, instant transactions — has become a phenomenon of the sweeping impact of the internet.

We are now the first generation to have no physical object that represents value: no identification, no bag of potatoes, no coins, no paper, no tangible representations.

Reports released by payment industry bodies have revealed Australia’s shift to a digital economy was accelerating quickly already, with increasing cashless payments outperforming declines of cash and cheque at unprecedented rates. This has been the justification for gradual transitions.

According to the Australian Payments Network, the amount of people paying with cash dropped from 69 per cent of Australians in 2007 to only 37 per cent in 2016.

This growing preference for digital payments is also reflected in a rapid decline in cheque use and ATM withdrawals, which together accounted for fewer than two million transactions a day in 2017.

This is compared with almost 23 million each day in 2018 via the digital economy.

Australians have been tapping and swiping away for ‘convenience’ and ‘security’, not understanding the long-term consequences that are being formed. The data has always driven the changes.

This decline was a key talking point in the government’s push to ban cash payments over $10,000. They say there is ‘no need’ for cash, expect on the black market, because nobody is using that much.

Again, we return to the question: What is really driving the changes here? Are the people instigating this themselves, or have authorities maneuvered systems to ensure this is the only option?

Regardless of your thoughts, one thing cannot be denied: The digital economy is far from ready.

In fact, NAB’s system has experienced crashes in the past, while Commonwealth Bank suffered a 25-hour outage. ANZ also experienced a crash that left millions of customers without access to online and phone banking and a technical glitch forced Woolworths stores to close.

Despite this, the agenda continues. Why could this be? Are the systems ultimately meant to fail?

Let’s also not forget the World Economic Forum, instrumental in Event 201, will be hosting a forum titled ‘The Great Reset’ in January 2021. Could this all be part of the plan to usher in larger changes?

Prepare yourselves for an international shakeup, folks. The economy, although a complete fraudulent zombie system, drives the ideology of value in society. Don’t underestimate its importance.

Only when the economy is shifted, and subsequent damage ensues, will nations and their subjects cry out for a ‘grand solution’ to pull them from this misery into a new, ‘sustainable’ economy.

Use cash wherever and whenever you can. Don’t help drive the data further. Importantly, don’t trust that the banks have your best interests at heart. Digital currency is susceptible to greater control.

Stay tuned as we continue to follow these developments.