Ursula Edgington

We all know businesses or entities that do not accept cash. Regardless of any customer pushback, for numerous reasons a cashless approach is gaining ground and speed. But what about the banks’ use of cash? There’s lots of boiling frogs here, and no-one is paying attention yet.

Recently, I reported how New Zealand’s second largest bank – BNZ – operates branches that are ‘cashless’. I kid you not. ANZ, NZ’s largest bank are the same. Contrary to the universal definition and global assumptions of what a ‘bank’ is – there are banks where you cannot withdraw or deposit cash. I don’t mean that if you choose to withdraw or deposit cash there’s a fee, I mean that any cash transactions at these pseudo-banks are impossible. They are attractive-looking façades with smiling, zombie-like staff waiting to be handed their AI-created redundancy notices.

Our options are limited – for simple transactions, use an ATM or alternatively, travel to a bank which deals with cash. But where?

So what about when you go online to virtually transact in your ‘digital money’? Last month, I was told by my UK bank, First Direct (where I’ve held an account for decades), that I would no longer be able to access my online-only account, because my New Zealand mobile could no longer receive the 2FA code their new security needed (!) Numerous emails and expensive phone calls later, and after I complained, I was met with an AI bot which refused to interact with me. I have since closed my account in disgust.

Then, this week, I was presented with this new message when accessing an ASB business online account:

ASB – the third largest bank in NZ according to the Reserve Bank, is now

“collecting info about my behaviour through a new layer of security” including things like “what and how I type, swipe, press and scroll.”

There’s no doubt this financial metadata is being harvested to use against us. The banks do not want our personal banking business, they want the custom of large corporate business: faceless, cashless profits.

Are you like me and want to avoid this unwanted and unnecessary surveillance interference? Well, there’s an option here too – I can avoid this digital totalitarianism if I can contact ASB by phone, or go into a local branch – assuming my local branch is: a) open, b) isn’t a cashless one. Knowing what we know about Money as Debt, the NZ Reserve Bank (NZRB) [non]asset chart for these three largest banks takes on new meaning:

But wait! The NZRB do NOT want to prevent Kiwi citizens from being able to transact in cash – hear it from the horse’s mouth (2mins):

Public transport is virtually non-existent in rural NZ, as I’ve explained here. So the NZRB claiming that this approach is not discriminatory is a blatant lie. Many parts of isolated NZ are still without a mobile signal, let alone access to an ATM or bank.

Here is, for example, the recently drastically-reduced opening hours of an ASB branch (note it’s not open at all over the weekends):

Inside, many ASB branches have new ‘improvements’ recently installed – electronically-controlled, toughened-glass partitions now separate the soon-to-be-redundant-banking staff from their inconvenient customers victims – remember, it’s all for your own safety:

These barriers have been installed because apparently some ‘customers’ have become angry and confrontational recently. (I wonder why?) And to add insult to injury, outside the branch are the advertised interest rates on the various ‘savings’:

Lots of people are using more cash then ever – that’s evident in lots of anecdotes and in the hard facts. But is it making any difference? I think the best we can hope for, is to delay the inevitable coercive moves towards digital currency. And maybe, like most things, NZ will be a long way behind the other Western ‘democracies’.

But wait, is there an Actionable Truth here? Yes! If you value the services at your local bank’s branch, we all need to regularly make use of them, before they are ended for good and all the staff ‘let go’. Try speaking with the staff at your local branch, are they aware of this creeping tyranny?

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