In the Second Quarter 2009 edition of Payments Monitor, a number of short-term trends were identified as a result of ATM Direct Charging, introduced in March 2009. These included a significant rise in the number of ATMs in the lead up to direct charging and a significant move towards use of own ATMs.
On the first anniversary of ATM Direct Charging, and with statistics for 2009 now available, what are the longer-term effects of direct charging on consumer behaviours?
Consumer shift towards own ATMs stabilises in 2009
As noted in the Second Quarter 2009 Payments Monitor article, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) figures from the period immediately after the introduction of direct charging suggest consumers responded to the changing price signals.
The most noticeable change has been the shift towards the use of own ATMs from March 2009 onwards. In recent years, own ATM transaction volume as a percentage of overall ATM transactions has consistently been around 52% of all ATM volumes. In March 2009, this figure rose dramatically to 60%. Similarly own ATM transaction value as a percentage of overall ATM value rose from just below 60% to 65%. Throughout 2009, these ratios have remained strikingly stable, suggesting the strong behavioural shift seen in March 2009 is significant and resilient.
Monthly Figure |
Transactions at Own ATM (%) |
Values at Own ATM (%) |
March 2008 |
52.2 |
59.6 |
June 2008 |
52.8 |
60.0 |
September 2008 |
52.7 |
59.7 |
December 2008 |
52.6 |
59.6 |
March 2009 |
60.0 |
65.8 |
June 2009 |
60.9 |
66.1 |
September 2009 |
59.3 |
64.5 |
December 2009 |
59.8 |
65.3 |
Pre-Direct Charging 
Post Direct Charging
Cash-out value rises significantly in 2009
Another behavioural response from consumers appears to be a rise in cash-out at point-of-sale. The value of cash-out transactions through debit cards at point-of-sale is $12.1 billion for the 10 months from March to December 2009. This represents a 10 per cent jump from the same time period in 2008. Previous annual increases have been between 2 and 5 per cent, suggesting a significant shift by consumers. This coincides with a flatlining of ATM withdrawal values for the same time period ($127.8 billion for both March to December 2008 and March to December 2009), suggesting consumers shifted approximately a half of billion worth of cash withdrawals from ATMs to cash-out at point-of-sale.
Year |
Value of cash-out ($billions) |
Rise in cash-out value from previous year (%) |
March – Dec 2005 |
9.8 |
– |
March – Dec 2006 |
10.0 |
2.0 |
March – Dec 2007 |
10.5 |
5.0 |
March – Dec 2008 |
11.0 |
4.8 |
March – Dec 2009 |
12.1 |
10.0 |
Conclusion
One of the policy goals of ATM direct charging has been to provide consumers with price transparency, on the assumption that consumers will change their behaviour in response to such signals. The numbers are now in and ATM direct charging is a striking example of how consumer payments behaviour can change in response to new price signals and how resilient these changed behaviours can be.