Cash is used in about 70% of everyday household transactions. However, due to their small value, cash transactions only comprise 38% of all payment transactions made by householders. Cash payments are commonly less than $50 and cash is almost exclusively used in transactions of less than $10.

APCA’s Australian Cash Distribution and Exchange System (ACDES) governs the trading and distribution of bulk cash between its six bank members. Financial institutions have long had responsibility for supplying cash to the community. While some financial institutions obtain their cash requirements “commercially”, usually from armoured carrier companies, ACDES members own and manage their own cash reserves and make them available to everyone else.  Together and working closely with the Reserve Bank and the Royal Australian Mint, they predominantly supply Australians with the notes and coins they need to carry out daily economic activity.