New Zealanders want access to cash – and some want even stricter standards for its provision than the Reserve Bank had proposed.<\/p>\n
The Reserve Bank has been consulting on its proposals for minimum standards for cash services in New Zealand.<\/a><\/p>\n It released a summary of submissions on Thursday.<\/p>\n Its proposal was to put a floor under the number and location of places where bank customers could withdraw, deposit or swap cash. It wanted 95 percent of people living in urban areas to have walking-distance access to a free cash point.<\/p>\n It identified a number of places that needed cash services including smaller settlements such as Ngakawau, Ongaonga, Omakau, Owaka, Whangaroa, Taipa, Te Araroa, Cheviot, Rotherham, Waikari, Kimbolton, Kawhia, Balfour, Ohai, Woodslands, St Andrews, Glenavy, Nuhaka, Tuai, Hampton, Kurow, Taharoa, Harihari, Fox Glacier and Ross.<\/p>\n It said meeting the standard would cost banks about $100 million a year but that was only 1 percent of their combined annual profit.<\/p>\n The Reserve Bank said 6106 submissions were received.<\/p>\n About half of the respondents were dissatisfied with the current cash services in their district and across New Zealand. Ninety percent agreed New Zealand needed a standard for cash access. About half said the Reserve Bank’s proposed standard was about right but 28 percent said it was not enough.<\/p>\n The Reserve Bank said some banks supported the public having continued access to cash, with a voluntary approach from the industry to achieve that, but did not support the detailed Reserve Bank proposal.<\/p>\n Some respondents had concerns about the Reserve Bank proposal’s estimated benefits and costs, and favoured digital payments services over cash services.<\/p>\n Karen Silk, assistant governor money, welcomed and thanked people for their views.<\/p>\n “New Zealanders use and value cash alongside digital ways to pay,” she said.<\/p>\n “More than 6000 people completed our questionnaire and about 4000 wrote to us or gave extra information and we appreciate all contributions.<\/p>\n “Small business owners and market stallholders told us that cash was a secure, reliable way to get paid but that depositing cash, getting coins, and accessing bank services was becoming harder and more costly.”<\/p>\n She said the submissions showed it was only a minority of people who never used cash, and some had started to hoard it in case of emergencies.<\/p>\n She said the Reserve Bank’s preference was that banks voluntarily address the concerns that had been raised, rather than the Reserve Bank dictating what they must do.<\/p>\n “This is the way we said it could be dealt with, if you think about doing this in an efficient way this is an illustrative model of what that could look like. The way banks do that is up to them,” she said.<\/p>\n “We’re asking them to take that information… We’re engaging with a working group of senior bank representatives on the topic.”<\/p>\n She said there was a case for banks bearing a reasonable cost of providing cash services, and banks benefited from customers placing their money with them.<\/p>\n She said the Reserve Bank was now engaging with a Bank Working Group to improve cash services across New Zealand.<\/p>\n Over half of kiwis still using cash for everyday purchases<\/p>\n Access to cash is not equal across rural and urban areas, Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young told Checkpoint.<\/p>\n “We know that all of the banks have pulled back on the number of resources that they’ve put into small towns across New Zealand.<\/p>\n “That means that for retailers, often they might have to travel for 30 minutes to get to a bank to make deposits or that they feel unsafe going to an ATM to make a deposit because they can’t go into a bank, and that a bank isn’t open.”<\/p>\n Young said a higher percentage of people in rural areas and areas with greater deprivation use cash for everyday items.<\/p>\n “Therefore cash is critical for a wide variety of people, and especially those in need, so having those services is really important.<\/p>\n “We do know when we have cyclones, and we seem to have a lot of cyclones, if power goes out that cash is the only way you can transact.”<\/p>\n The Reserve Bank earlier said the number of bank branches around the country was down by 40 percent and the number of bank-owned ATMs had dropped 32 percent over the past decade. Between 2012 and 2017, total ATM numbers fell by 14.7 percent per million people.<\/p>\n RNZ research identified a number of dead zones where there were no cash points nearby for people to withdraw money.<\/a><\/p>\n