ABA MAPS COMMUNITY’S EXTENSIVE ACCESS TO FINANCIAL SERVICES Sydney, 27 March, 2002: The Australian Bankers’ Association (ABA) has conducted preliminary analysis of the Australian Prudential and Regulation Authority’s (APRA) new survey – “Points of Presence Return” to map the nation’s access to banking services. David Bell, Chief Executive of the ABA, said the APRA survey has collected data on the variety of points of presence – over-the-counter services such as branches, community banks, in-store, supermarket, agencies in newsagents, kiosks and electronic services such as ATMs. “In the ABA’s mapping project, the APRA data has been added to other banking services, such as those provided through Australia Post’s GiroPost and manual networks, plus services provided by credit unions and building societies, to build a  picture on the access and density of financial services provided by participants in the sector. (see map compiled by University of Adelaide for ABA)  “The map shows that Australians have extensive access to banking services through a variety of distribution channels – including over the counter, in a supermarket, newsagent, post office or at an ATM.” “From the map, the community will be able to see the spread of banking services across the nation.” “The banking services that have been mapped by ABA are over-the-counter points of presence where a retail customer can deposit and/or withdraw cash.” “Previous analysis of access to services in regional areas was judged against the following benchmarks – 80 kilometres from the identified services and population centres of more than 200.” “ABA thought a more reasonable benchmark would be 20 kilometres from an over-the-counter points of presence where a retail customer could deposit and/or withdraw cash and the mapping shows that almost all of the Australian population have this access.” Mr Bell said compared to the former Reserve Bank of Australia survey (published on the APRA website), the new APRA survey would better reflect access to banking services and how they are provided through the variety of channels.  “The ABA welcomes the APRA survey which is now reflecting the revolution that has occurred in the provision of banking services resulting from the new wave of electronics and telecommunications.” “There is the potential to enhance the APRA survey even further by providing a directory of services provided at each point of presence.” Notes for editors Summary of APRA data:   Branch services (meets APRA’s definition) Banks 4712 Credit Unions and Building Societies 1428 ATMs Banks 12 989   Credit Unions and Building Societies 1284   NB: This information cannot be compared with previous Reserve Bank of Australia or previous APRA figures. Please see below for Map of Access to Financial Services For further information contact: Heather Wellard ABA PR Phone: 02 8298 0411 Mobile: 0409 830 439 Click here for a larger image ENDS