Remember the days when every suburb had a bank branch - and Australia had more than just the " Big Four " offering banking services ? Some may remember rather ruefully the con the banks pulled on their customers when they declared that " they had better things to do with their money " than owning the real estate for their premises. They sold the branches to very willing investors - who thought they were getting a reliable tenant for life. Then came the era of the ATM and the banks closed thousands of branches right across Australia and replaced the network with a cluster of branches in a single location - usually many suburbs apart.
Change is in the air again. It seems that even those clusters of branches are nearing their use by date. Many are in suburban shopping centres where rents are high and the banks are eyeing off cheaper premises on the fringe of shopping districts.
The ATM is little changed since the days of it's introduction, and we are about to see the " Super ATM ". Each of these new machines will cost it's owners much more than a million dollars, but it will be capable of accepting and counting coin, and accepting major deposits on a 24/7 basis. It will open the way for small business owners to be able to bank their takings without the need for a teller to accept the money - and the banks envisage that their new branches will resemble a retail lounge with several of these new machines to serve customers needs.
The way of banking business is rapidly changing and Internet banking has reduced customer dependency on bank branches. We are moving further into the machine age and it will be interesting to see what security measures will be built into these new ATM machines. The banks must have high security expectations to even think of letting an unattended machine receive and hold cash deposits that can run into very serious money.
Once again, the banks will move in lockstep. This is not a case of a single bank leading the way. Banking is " moving evolution " and just as the first ATM's arrived on the scene sporting the logos of each of the big four, so this new innovation will be an industry wide movement.
Get used to dealing with a machine rather than with a person, because that is the way banking is heading. The fact that a big Chinese government owned bank is suggesting that it may begin operations in Australia is an indication that the cosy banking arrangements that are in place at present may face change. That will depend on how the Federal government chooses to either open or defend this country's banking laws !
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