(16 November 2016 – Australia) Citi's Australian arm is going cashless, advising customers that it will no longer handle notes and coins in branches because of a lack of demand.
Cash services will be halted as of 24 November because fewer than four percent of customers have used them in the last year, the bank said.
Janine Copelin, head, retail banking, Citi, told reporters: “This move to cashless branches reflects Citi's commitment to digital banking and we are investing in the channels our customers prefer to use.”
Citi customers can still make deposits through the Australia Post network and Copelin says that there are no plans to close branches, which are still an “important component of how we serve our high-net worth customers”.
According to East & Partners’ 2016 Merchant Payments Market report, consumers used hard currency nine percent of the time to settle purchases, representing a one percent increase from the previous year.