ANZ Bank backs sharing ATMs with rivals

After the big four banks' recent blitz on unpopular ATM fees, group executive Fred Ohlsson confirmed the case for rationalising some of the nation's cash machines - saying it was fair to assume that in the future, rival bank ATMs would not need to be positioned side-by-side.

In an interview with BusinessDay, Mr Ohlsson, who runs ANZ's Australian retail and commercial business, also underlined the digital shifts rocking banking by revealing the bank now had hundreds of thousands of customers using the smart phone payment service, Apple Pay.

The shifts come as ANZ, led by chief executive Shayne Elliott, is trying to beef up its digital offering to customers, in response to a boom in customers managing their finances on smartphones or through web browsers.

Before the weekend's rush by banks to scrap ATM fees charged to customers of other banks, the industry had been in talks about forming a "utility" to service their ATMs, which are making less revenue due to declining cash withdrawals.

There is no certainty the mooted plan will proceed, but such a move could allow banks to share the cost of maintenance and cash handling for their ATM fleets. The argument is it would allow the removal of duplicate machines, while delaying the closure of marginal machines, industry sources say.

In the first public comment on the proposal from a senior banker, Mr Ohlsson said ANZ would look be likely to support the idea, if it re-emerges.

"If that industry initiative kicks off, then we would consider that and look into it, for sure," he said. "We would consider it and probably support it."

Teaming up with other banks to manage ATM costs would require approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The idea has not been submitted to the watchdog and Mr Ohlsson gave no indication this would necessarily occur.

Even so, he said it was a "fair assumption" that some duplicate ATMs could be removed in the future, as customers will soon be able to go to any big four bank ATM without paying the $2 fee.

"You probably don't need four [ATMs] in a row," he said. "What we all need to consider there is the branding of our ATMs."

The Reserve Bank said in 2015 predicted a decline in the nation's 32,000 ATMs, saying Australia had a high number of machines relative to the population.

However, this has not happened, despite the move away from cash, which accounts for less than 40 per cent of payments, down from 70 per cent nine years ago.

The changes are also prompting banks including ANZ to revamp their branches, in an effort to place greater emphasis on sales of products such mortgages or personal loans, rather than conduct simple transactions.

"We have our over-the-counter transactions disappearing in branches by roughly 5 to 10 per cent every year, and if I look at the ATM withdrawals, in numbers, they're shrinking more than 10 per cent every year," Mr Ohlsson said.

Mr Ohlsson was speaking as ANZ opened its recently renovated Chinatown branch in Sydney, its largest by customer and staff numbers, on a site it has held since 1921. Reflecting the shift to digital banking, the branch has the tellers in its basement level, and most of the staff are "personal bankers".

"What we are seeing in our branches is a move from transactions to interactions," Mr Ohlsson said.

Since Mr Ohlsson was appointed early last year, ANZ has broken ranks with its key rivals to provide Apple Pay, as part of a push to bolster its digital offering.

Westpac, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank in March lost out in a public brawl with the tech giant over access to hardware on the smart phone, and they do not provide the service with Apple.

ANZ says it cannot release the numbers of users because Apple does not allow this, but it has 674,000 customers signed up to mobile wallet services - which also include Android Pay, Samsung Pay and its own ANZ Mobile Pay. Customers have spent more than $900 million on mobile wallets since April last year, and it is understood much of the that is because of Apple Pay.

Specifically on Apple Pay, Mr Ohlsson said: "We have now hundreds of thousands of customers on it, and many, obviously not all, but many of those are active users."

ANZ is also shaking up its internal structure in response to sweeping digital changes, via a shift to the "agile" approach used by technology giants such as Spotify and Netflix.

Mr Ohlsson said a key reason for the restructure, which is likely to trigger job cuts, was that customers' use of apps such as Uber and Facebook mean they expected banks to react more quickly to consumer demand.