The number of bank branches has increased for the ninth consecutive year, based on data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).  Over the past nine years to 30 June 2010, banks have increased their branch network by 755 or 15.8% to 5,544 branches. (Note that the APRA survey commenced in 2001.)

Over the last five years, the increase in banks branch numbers has been strong, although for 2010, the net increase was small (i.e. 40). 

Branches – State distribution

The table below focuses on the main retail banks in Australia.  These banks make up 98.5% of bank branches.

In 2010, NSW had most bank branches at 1,549 or 28.4%.  Victoria was next highest with 1,357 or 24.9% of bank branches. 

Banks have been opening branches in areas of Australia which have experienced population growth and new business activity.  The net increase in bank branches has been strongest in Queensland where 224 branches have been added since 2001 (a 22.0% increase).  WA has also experienced strong growth in bank branch numbers with a net increase of 205 branches since 2001 (a 51.1% increase).

Increase in branch numbers since 2001 has also been strong for Tasmania (22.9%) and Northern Territory (44.4%). 

   

Retail banks	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	NT	ACT	Total
2001	1,456	1,230	1,016	401	425	105	36	61	4,730
2009	1,540	1,351	1,237	594	459	129	48	68	5,426
2010	1,549	1,357	1,240	606	462	129	52	65	5,460
. increase since 2001	93	127	224	205	37	24	16	4	730
. %increase	6.4%	10.3%	22.0%	51.1%	8.7%	22.9%	44.4%	6.6%	15.4%
. contrib to increase	12.7%	17.4%	30.7%	28.1%	5.1%	3.3%	2.2%	0.5%	100.0%
. increase since last year	9	6	3	12	3	0	4	-3	34
. %increase	0.6%	0.4%	0.2%	2.0%	0.7%	0.0%	8.3%	-4.4%	0.6%
. contrib to increase	26.5%	17.6%	8.8%	35.3%	8.8%	0.0%	11.8%	-8.8%	100.0%
% of branches
. 2001	30.8%	26.0%	21.5%	8.5%	9.0%	2.2%	0.8%	1.3%	100.0%
. 2009	28.4%	24.9%	22.8%	10.9%	8.5%	2.4%	0.9%	1.3%	100.0%
. 2010	28.4%	24.9%	22.7%	11.1%	8.5%	2.4%	1.0%	1.2%	100.0%

Banks – other face-to-face services

Banks also provide a range of other face-to-face services such as agencies, mobile units, rural banking etc.  There were a total of 1,919 of these services as at 30 June 2010.  Furthermore, there were 3,291 Bank@post services. Bank@post enables customers from banks and other financial institutions to do some personal banking transactions at Australia Post outlets.

Branches – area of accessibility

Across all of the five areas of accessibility, branches make up more service points than other face-to-face services.  In very remote areas, however, the split is nearly 50/50 where branches make up 50.6% of bank services while other face-to-face services account for 49.4% of bank services.

In highly accessible areas, branches outnumber other face-to-face services by 3.6 to 1. 

The provision of bank services to areas of lesser accessibility is an ongoing priority for banks.  In terms of branch numbers, those areas defined as moderately accessible, remote and very remote have experienced the highest growth rate over the past five years with branch numbers growing by 13.2%, 15.5% and 16.7% respectively.   For the more accessible areas, growth in branch numbers was 11.9% for highly accessible areas and 9.4% for accessible areas over the past five years.

Branches	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	last 5 years
Highly Accessible	3,773	3,814	3,947	4,038	4,152	4,231	4,268
. change		41	133	91	114	79	37	454
. %change		1%	3%	2%	3%	2%	1%	11.9%
Accessible	666	682	710	716	727	743	746
. change		16	28	6	11	16	3	64
. %change		2%	4%	1%	2%	2%	0%	9.4%
Moderately Accessible	274	280	293	300	311	319	317
. change		6	13	7	11	8	-2	37
. %change		2%	5%	2%	4%	3%	-1%	13.2%
Remote	140	148	152	161	164	168	171
. change		8	4	9	3	4	3	23
. %change		6%	3%	6%	2%	2%	2%	15.5%
Very Remote	35	36	45	49	44	43	42
. change		1	9	4	-5	-1	-1	6
. %change		3%	25%	9%	-10%	-2%	-2%	16.7%
Total	4,888	4,960	5,147	5,264	5,398	5,504	5,544
. change		72	187	117	134	106	40	584
. %change		1%	4%	2%	3%	2%	1%	11.8%

ATMS

There were 28,764 ATMs across Australia as at June 2010, an increase of 6.1% or 1,656 ATMs over the past year.   These ATMs, of course, are not all owned by banks.

Over the past two years, ATMs have grown by 3,106 (12%) or an average of 1,553 per year. 

	ATMs	%changeTop of Form
Jun-94	5,910
Jun-95	6,422	8.7%
Jun-96	7,465	16.2%
Jun-97	8,670	16.1%
Jun-98	9,472	9.3%
Jun-99	10,089	6.5%
Jun-00	11,819	17.1%
Jun-01	13,289	12.4%
Jun-02	16,398	23.4%
Jun-03	20,339	24.0%
Jun-04	21,550	6.0%
Jun-05	23,472	8.9%
Jun-06	24,616	4.9%
Jun-07	25,681	4.3%
Jun-08	25,658	-0.1%
Jun-09	27,108	5.7%
Jun-10	28,764	6.1%Bottom of Form

Source: Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA)

ATMs - banks

At 30 June 2010, banks owned 12,735 ATMs, based on APRA data.  Matching this result to the APCA statistics shows that banks own around 44.3% of ATMs in Australia.  This has fallen from 46% in 2008. 

NSW has the highest number of ATMs, being 9,341 of which banks own 42.3% (3,951) of these.

Top of Form ATMsBottom of Form	NSW	VIC	QLD	SA	WA	Tas	ACT	NT	Total
30-Jun-08
Bank	3,584	2,940	2,425	1,014	1,305	213	211	115	11,807
Total	8,685	5,529	5,807	2,085	2,329	420	412	391	25,658
%banks	41.3%	53.2%	41.8%	48.6%	56.0%	50.7%	51.2%	29.4%	46.0%
30-Jun-09
Bank	3,850	3,184	2,553	1,034	1,370	224	218	119	12,552
Total	9,090	5,891	6,254	2,144	2,427	458	423	421	27,108
%banks	42.4%	54.0%	40.8%	48.2%	56.4%	48.9%	51.5%	28.3%	46.3%
30-Jun-10
Bank	3,951	3,287	2,617	867	1,445	233	218	117	12,735
Total	9,341	6,334	6,759	2,243	2,700	502	438	447	28,764
%banks	42.3%	51.9%	38.7%	38.7%	53.5%	46.4%	49.8%	26.2%	44.3%

Source: Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA) and Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)

Almost 90% of ATMs which are owned by banks are located in highly accessible areas. 

Over the past two years, the number of bank ATMs in areas of lesser accessibility (i.e. moderately accessible, remote and very remote areas) have grown by 5.3% while for areas of higher accessibility (highly accessible and accessible), total growth over the past two years was 7.9%.

 

ATMs	Highly accessible	Accessible	Moderately accessible	Remote	Very remote	Total
Jun-08	10,606	844	220	116	21	11,807
. %distbn	89.8%	7.1%	1.9%	1.0%	0.2%	100.0%
Jun-09	11,287	891	234	117	23	12,552
. %distbn	89.9%	7.1%	1.9%	0.9%	0.2%	100.0%
Jun-10	11,451	908	234	118	24	12,735
. %distbn	89.9%	7.1%	1.8%	0.9%	0.2%	100.0%
Growth 2 years	8.0%	7.6%	6.4%	1.7%	14.3%	7.9%

EFTPOS

There were 712,434 EFTPOS terminals as at June 2010, an increase of 6.5% or 43,269 terminals over the past year. The number of EFTPOS terminals has more than doubled over the past ten years. 

Only 10 years ago (June 2000) there were 333,739 EFTPOS terminals, that is, there are 2.1 times more terminals now than there were 10 years ago. 

These EFTPOS terminals, of course, are not all owned by banks.

	EFTPOS terminals	%change
Jun-94	51,707
Jun-95	88,082
Jun-96	123,984	40.8%
Jun-97	177,766	43.4%
Jun-98	230,573	29.7%
Jun-99	278,238	20.7%
Jun-00	333,739	19.9%
Jun-01	375,883	12.6%
Jun-02	415,167	10.5%
Jun-03	433,640	4.4%
Jun-04	465,754	7.4%
Jun-05	518,532	11.3%
Jun-06	540,189	4.2%
Jun-07	597,063	10.5%
Jun-08	658,033	10.2%
Jun-09	669,165	1.7%
Jun-10	712,434	6.5%

Source: Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA)

 

Jun-10	EFTPOS terminals	%
NSW	234,473	32.9%
VIC	178,737	25.1%
QLD	147,631	20.7%
WA	71,976	10.1%
SA	48,868	6.9%
TAS	15,098	2.1%
ACT	8,974	1.3%
NT	6,677	0.9%
Total	712,434	100.0%

Source: APCA