Armaguard has hiked the standard fee levied on customers making bank account withdrawals from its atmx-branded automated teller network.

The standard fee for withdrawals has increased by 20 cents to A$3.

The fee applies to atmx users whose financial institutions, including Westpac and Commonwealth Bank, have not negotiated fee waiver agreements with Armaguard.

Customers of Bank of Queensland, ANZ, Suncorp, RACQ Bank, Orange Credit Union and Police Bank do not incur fees when using atmx machines.

An Armaguard spokesperson said the price increases were attributable to rising supply chain costs, including a succession of official rate hikes.

The rate rises have directly impacted the cost of holding cash earmarked for distribution throughout the company’s ATM network.

The repricing comes at a sensitive moment for Armaguard as it tries to persuade the ACCC about the public benefits of its proposed merger with rival ATM deployer, Prosegur.

Australian banks are divided on whether the ACCC should allow the planned union of the two businesses to proceed.

Prosegur’s ATM fleet trades under the “Precinct” brand and comprises more than 700 automated tellers previously owned by Westpac.

Customers with Westpac accounts have fee-free access to the Precinct fleet, but accountholders at the other major banks pay a $2.80 fee when they withdraw cash from one of the network’s machines.

Banking Day understands that another independent deployer of ATMs – Next Payments – is set to increase its average withdrawal fee to $2.70 from $2.65.

Some withdrawals made through Next machines can attract a fee of $3.

Banking Day is waiting on a reply from NCR Australia – the owner of the Allpoint ATM fleet – as to whether it is planning to hike customer fees.