ATM use levels return

Wednesday July 1, 2009

ATM usage levels have returned to what they were before the latest round of new fees, only one month after consumers turned their backs on such habits. Early March saw the introduction of as penalty fee or direct disclosure fee when customers used an ATM that was not their own banks in a highly published and highly criticized move.

MWE Consulting performed an analysis on Reserve Bank of Australia data which indicates that while customers initially moved to using primarily their own banks ATMs, they are now beginning to use competitors and are paying that additional $2 fee. The analysis showed an increase in own bank ATM usage of almost 6 percent with 60.0 percent of people using their own in March 2009, whereas this figures has now declined back to 58.6 percent in April with predictions it will continue to slide until it reaches its usual position of 54.2 percent.

Previous to the announcement of the ATM fees hike, Australian ATM users would actually use foreign ATMs for almost half of all ATM transactions. In fact, 47 percent of all 867 million transactions in 2008 were foreign ATM sessions according to a previous report by MWE Consulting. The reason behind this has always been believed to be convenience of the nearest ATM. While fees have always been incurred when using a foreign ATM, it was the direct charging of $2 that dented this behavior in March, and somewhat interrupted what has always been a strong revenue stream.

As of the end of 2008 there were 27,081 ATMs in Australia, an increase from 21,266 in 2003 with figures showing that on average people withdraw less money from a foreign ATM, typically a difference of $50.

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