ANZ Bank does away with cash; Australian Dollar responds with volatility
There are those who look forward to the day when the entire society in which they live goes completely cashless, and there are those who regard such a possibility with absolute dread.
Many nations with developed and advanced financial markets ecosystems are now heading toward the next stage in the implementation of a fully digital ecosystem, and in a lot of cases, their respective governments and central issuers of fiat currency are talking about the implementation of what is known as CDBCs, an acronym that stands for Central Bank Digital Currencies.
Central Bank Digital Currencies are effectively digital versions of existing sovereign currency, and many nations in Europe, North America, and South East Asia are looking at developing them and rolling them out. Australia is one such nation.
Whilst the rollout of such CDBCs has not taken place yet, there is more than a degree of speculation regarding the possibility of such a move being made by the Australian central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia.
This speculation is being fueled by a recent move by ANZ Bank, one of Australia’s largest Tier 1 financial institutions and the country’s largest institutional and corporate bank.
At the end of last week, ANZ Bank announced that it would cease facilitating withdrawals and deposits from a number of its Australian branches on a permanent basis.
The bank advised that those wishing to access cash rather than use electronic transfers, debit/credit cards, or contactless systems should look toward using ATMs (automated cash machines), which are operated by ANZ Bank as well as independent operators and other banks across Australia, as ANZ’s customers will no longer be able to withdraw cash from their accounts inside branches.
Whilst this move means that ANZ Bank customers will still be able to withdraw and deposit cash via the ATM machines, the number of machines operated by banks across Australia, including ANZ, has been decreasing as they become decommissioned over recent years.
Whilst ANZ Bank’s move may well appear to be sensible and look toward a more efficient future in which most transactions are either carried out online, via a card payment, or contactless payment device rather than using physical cash, there is a seed of concern that has been sewn that this is a step toward the implementation of CDBCs and their perceived potentially authoritarian nature.
Groups which disapprove of the development by governments and central banks with regard to CDBC development believe that privacy could be diminished if all transactions are done digitally and that governments could use the digital nature of fiat currencies to ensure compliance with government agendas and doctrines by being able to ‘turn the money off’ if someone does not do as they are told.
Indeed, one of ANZ’s reasons for ceasing to offer cash in many of its branches is that the lockdowns enforced by the government throughout 2020 and 2021 in Australia, which was subject to one of the most strict lockdowns in the world, caused people to use much less physical cash and that ANZ is just moving with the times.
VIEW FULL ANALYSIS VISIT - FXOpen Blog...
Disclaimer: This Forecast represents FXOpen Companies opinion only, it should not be construed as an offer, invitation or recommendation in respect to FXOpen Companies products and services or as Financial Advice.
There are those who look forward to the day when the entire society in which they live goes completely cashless, and there are those who regard such a possibility with absolute dread.
Many nations with developed and advanced financial markets ecosystems are now heading toward the next stage in the implementation of a fully digital ecosystem, and in a lot of cases, their respective governments and central issuers of fiat currency are talking about the implementation of what is known as CDBCs, an acronym that stands for Central Bank Digital Currencies.
Central Bank Digital Currencies are effectively digital versions of existing sovereign currency, and many nations in Europe, North America, and South East Asia are looking at developing them and rolling them out. Australia is one such nation.
Whilst the rollout of such CDBCs has not taken place yet, there is more than a degree of speculation regarding the possibility of such a move being made by the Australian central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia.
This speculation is being fueled by a recent move by ANZ Bank, one of Australia’s largest Tier 1 financial institutions and the country’s largest institutional and corporate bank.
At the end of last week, ANZ Bank announced that it would cease facilitating withdrawals and deposits from a number of its Australian branches on a permanent basis.
The bank advised that those wishing to access cash rather than use electronic transfers, debit/credit cards, or contactless systems should look toward using ATMs (automated cash machines), which are operated by ANZ Bank as well as independent operators and other banks across Australia, as ANZ’s customers will no longer be able to withdraw cash from their accounts inside branches.
Whilst this move means that ANZ Bank customers will still be able to withdraw and deposit cash via the ATM machines, the number of machines operated by banks across Australia, including ANZ, has been decreasing as they become decommissioned over recent years.
Whilst ANZ Bank’s move may well appear to be sensible and look toward a more efficient future in which most transactions are either carried out online, via a card payment, or contactless payment device rather than using physical cash, there is a seed of concern that has been sewn that this is a step toward the implementation of CDBCs and their perceived potentially authoritarian nature.
Groups which disapprove of the development by governments and central banks with regard to CDBC development believe that privacy could be diminished if all transactions are done digitally and that governments could use the digital nature of fiat currencies to ensure compliance with government agendas and doctrines by being able to ‘turn the money off’ if someone does not do as they are told.
Indeed, one of ANZ’s reasons for ceasing to offer cash in many of its branches is that the lockdowns enforced by the government throughout 2020 and 2021 in Australia, which was subject to one of the most strict lockdowns in the world, caused people to use much less physical cash and that ANZ is just moving with the times.
VIEW FULL ANALYSIS VISIT - FXOpen Blog...
Disclaimer: This Forecast represents FXOpen Companies opinion only, it should not be construed as an offer, invitation or recommendation in respect to FXOpen Companies products and services or as Financial Advice.
