The COVID shutdown accelerated the surge to online payments. By 2022 only 13 per cent of all transactions involved cash, representing even less in value at a mere 8 per cent.
More importantly, I like to know I can always head to the bank or the ATM to make a withdrawal. Just in case. Under undertakings given to the ACCC, after all, Armaguard had pledged to not unilaterally increase prices for existing customers for three years and by no more than CPI plus 7.5 per cent after that.Yet the company told a roundtable called by the RBA this month that “the current cash distribution system in Australia is unsustainable in its current format” and that even post-merger, Armaguard “continues to be an unsustainable business”.
The RBA is more circumspect on the increase in cash that may not show up in recorded transactions but can be used for criminal purposes like money laundering or on the black market.