Sydney, Dec 6: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has granted interim authorisation to the Australian Banking Association (ABA) and its member banks to engage in discussions and develop arrangements aimed at ensuring the continued physical distribution of cash in the Australian economy.
This move follows concerns raised by Armaguard, a major cash-in-transit services provider, about the industry’s sustainability.
Specifically, the authorisation is for discussions and reaching in-principle agreements regarding an industry response to support ongoing access to cash.
The ACCC stresses the importance of securing ongoing access to cash, particularly in remote and regional areas where bank branches are limited, and people often access cash through non-bank sources like Australia Post and retailers.
The ABA will report on these discussions, and the ACCC has highlighted that this will be a crucial consideration for any future application for authorisation by the industry.
In a separate incident, Westpac, one of Australia’s major banks, experienced a significant outage on Monday night, disrupting online services for customers.
The disruption, attributed to a “routine technology update,” impacted access to account information via online and mobile banking platforms.
Westpac assured customers that its teams were actively working to resolve the issue and apologized for any inconvenience caused.
Downdetector, a website tracking online outages, recorded numerous complaints from Australians, with reports peaking around 9 pm.
Services were ultimately restored shortly after 5 am on Tuesday.
Customers took to social media to express their frustration, citing difficulties logging in, viewing account details, paying bills, and making transfers.
One individual even mentioned having to leave a trolley full of groceries at the checkout due to payment issues caused by the outage.
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