Posts target Australian bank ANZ with misleading cash withdrawal claim

"Australia, here it is. ANZ not letting people withdraw their money," reads a tweet shared on March 30.

The tweet features a link and a screenshot of an article from Daily Mail Australia on the same day which reported on ANZ's move to end over-the-counter cash withdrawals at some of its branches

"This is a ploy to get rid of cash & make us controllable as per WEF/UN orders to put us all on CBDC's & social credits," the post, retweeted over 500 times, goes on to say.

A central bank digital currency (CBDC) is the digital form of the official currency.

Given the staggering rise in unregulated cryptocurrencies, a number of central banks around the world are pursuing digital currency projects.

The Reserve Bank Of Australia (RBA), the country's central bank, said it has been actively researching CBDC as a "complement" to existing forms of money.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) and the United Nations (UN) have been repeatedly targeted by misinformation saying they aim to control the world.

AFP has also previously debunked misleading posts that claim Australians need a "social credit" score to purchase cryptocurrency.

Image

A screenshot of the misleading post, captured on April 6, 2023

Similar misleading posts were also shared on Telegram and on Twitter here, here and here.

Responding to the posts, a spokesman for ANZ told AFP on April 4 there would be "a small number of branches where we no longer handle cash at a counter".

"At these branches, cash and cheque deposits and cash withdrawals can continue to be made by using our Smart ATM and coin deposit machines," he added without indicating which ANZ branches will cease to handle over-the-counter cash withdrawals.

Decline in cash use

The ANZ spokesman said the bank has seen a 50 per cent decline in in-branch transactions over the past four years, while only eight percent of its customers solely rely on branches for their everyday banking needs.

Talis Putnins, a professor of finance from the University of Technology Sydney, told AFP on April 5 the decline in cash use likely explains ANZ's decision to stop providing over-the-counter cash withdrawal service in some branches.

"As fewer people use cash, it becomes even more expensive for the bank (to handle) per dollar of cash because of the fixed costs of cash handling," he said.

Monash University Malaysia business professor Nafis Alam told AFP on April 4 that ANZ's move does not signal an end of cash in Australia.

"Data showed that cash transactions still contribute a quarter of total transactions," Alam said.

An annual survey published by the RBA in March 2023 shows that cash was used by 25 percent of respondents in their most recent in-person transaction in 2022.