Te Pūtea Matua: the Reserve Bank of New Zealand is offering towns in need of smart ATMs smart safes, both with an associated coin machine, or a security van service, if they send in an application for cash service trials.
Any rural or small town can apply as well as any iwi or social services.
The Reserve Bank’s money and cash director Ian Woolford said people were becoming frustrated by cash banking difficulties, particularly in rural Aotearoa.
“People living in rural areas find it harder to access cash services, like withdrawal and deposit, than those living in urban areas. Overall, the top reason given by respondents for difficulty accessing cash services was that there was no ATM or bank branch in their area. This reinforces the rationale for the trials.”
“The Reserve Bank is committed to ensure New Zealanders can continue to access, use, and bank cash as they need or prefer. Alongside the trials we have work underway to define a reasonable level of cash access that Kiwis can expect, and to develop tools to ensure that level of access is met.”
To be eligible for the trials a town needs to have a population between 1000 and 10,000, and they must have lost most or all cash banking services.
According to Woolford there have almost been 80 expressions of interest, with some coming from a number of iwi-related social services.
According to Te Pūtea Matua’s bi-annual cash use and payments preferences survey, only 57.2% of Kiwi’s use cash for everyday purposes, a drop from 60.4% in 2021 and 95.8% in 2019.
“New Zealanders still value the option of using cash, and we want to see if better local cash infrastructure, and supporting retailers to readily offer cash-outs will help keep the option available,” Woolford said.
Applications for the trial close on June 7.