ATMs still matter in a cashless world; dispensing a service that supplies 13 per cent of the value of consumer payments in Australia.
In a long canvassed and long delayed reform, the big banks now look close to settling the terms for an industry ATM utility, pooling the ATM fleets of CBA, Westpac, NAB and ANZ.
New thinking on branding is also in the frame.
'OneATM' let's say (because the actual brand suggestions are still under wraps) will be a joint venture between Australia's four largest banks and structured to be open for others to enter.
Any ATM industry utility, supported by common and ideally lower cost servicing, is a concept that's been floated back and forth for years.
Championed in public recently only by Westpac, Banking Day has heard inter-bank negotiations are taking a material turn.
Inspired by a similar utility model agreed in Belgium very recently, a universal, if "neutral" banking ATM brand is one detail under active discussion, and may soon win support from all major banks, unifying at last behind this reform.
Only last month Belgium's four largest banks signed off on plans to jointly operate a single, pooled network of ATMs under a shared brand name yet to be selected.
Less than a year ago in The Netherlands the three major banks combined their ATMs under the Geldmaat label, meaning "money buddy".
In December, Banking Day reported Commonwealth Bank re-joined talks with the three other major banks on a proposal to establish a shared ATM network across Australia. The engagement of the industry leader in a process that also holds strong backing from the Reserve Bank may be pushing negotiations to a conclusion.
The RBA, in its recent Issues Paper for the Review of Retail Payments, pointed out
"the declining role of cash in household and business transactions is likely to raise some important public policy questions over the next few years.
"One such issue may relate to maintaining adequate access to cash in the event of a significant contraction in the ATM network or in the provision of other cash services."
An integrated bank-owned ATM fleet and wise branding of aged and new machines will prove effective in prolonging the life of ATMs as a niche banking service in Australia.
Automatic teller machines, a tangible and visible sign of progress when they began to pop up in the late 1970s are no curio in 2020, even in a financial system beholden to digital.
ATMs are a critical social service, one being recast as resilient, no matter how many pundits foresee "the end of cash".
Analyst Grant Halverson, in a submission to the RBA, points out that cash dispensed at ATMs, while in decline, ranks fourth in a listing of payments choices by consumers in Australia over the year to November 2019.
"The public and business took A$127.5 million in cash from ATM last year," Halverson wrote.
"ATM cash use, while in slow decline is still significant at 13 per cent of consumer payments."
In its 2019 annual report, the Payments System Board noted "a continued decline in ATM cash withdrawals.
"Australians made an average of around 23 ATM withdrawals per person in 2018/19, down from 40 in 2008. The number and value of ATM withdrawals fell by 4 per cent and 1 per cent respectively, in 2018/19."
The total number of ATMs in Australia has declined by about 4100 machines since the peak (of more than 32,000) in 2016, the PSB said.
"The largest declines have been to the 'off-branch' fleets of some of the banks, particularly in metropolitan areas where there used to be multiple bank ATMs in close proximity. Relative to our population, the size of the ATM network in Australia is still large compared to many other countries."
APRA's annual overview shows banks and other ADIs managed 11,560 ATMs in mid 2019, down 2255 over two years.
Figures from Cardtronics, the largest independent operator of ATMs in Australia - with around 9000 machines, close to one third of the national fleet of 30,000 - provide a glimpse into the operating environment in the ATMs sector.
Over the nine months to September 2019, revenue for the Australia & New Zealand division of this business fell 15 per cent. Over just the September quarter revenue fell 17 per cent.
Thanks to the coordinated (but little scrutinised) elimination by big banks of convenience fees two years ago, Cardtronics has written off $140 million of the $151 million in goodwill attached to its roll-up of diverse ATM brands.
Inevitably, the ACCC will oversee and need to authorise the proposed cooperation among banks in the ATM space.
It's sensitive terrain over and above the cartel conduct.
Debate over access to cash and argy bargy over demand for cash is being fought out over the so-called "cash ban".
Competitive checks in the ATM segment remains in evidence in Australia, though there are fewer independent operators than at any time in the last 30 years.