Banks axe foreign exchange cash service

Majors say Covid sped up move to do away with offering

The decision by banks to ditch cheques has been widely broadcast — to the ire of older customers — but it seems banks are also quietly phasing out another service.

From next month ASB will join ANZ, BNZ and Kiwibank in stopping buying and selling foreign exchange cash while Westpac continues to offer the service but only to its own customers.

Kiwis with foreign currency in cash at home will now have to use a foreign exchange service rather than going into their bank.

A retired Aucklander contacted the Herald about the issue when a friend of his told him about the difficulties in exchanging some US dollars into New Zealand dollars.

“He went to pretty much every bank and . . . none of them would change it. The only one that would [was ASB] and they were reluctant unless he had an account with them. “I thought this is a bit mickey duck.” The retiree said he decided he had better go and change the US$1800 he had sitting around at home as he was unlikely to be travelling to America anytime soon.

Twenty minutes and two bank tellers later he got the money changed at the ASB’s Botany branch.

But they would only do it after asking if he had an account with the bank, the man said.

The bank staffer also told him that from July 2 it would stop offering a cash foreign exchange altogether.

“I thought crikey there is going to be a hell of a lot of people . . . who are going to get caught out with this.”

ASB executive general manager for Retail Banking Craig Sims said Covid-19 has had a significant impact on customer demand for foreign exchange services over the past year and a half.

“We are continuing to provide international services including accepting foreign exchange cheques, foreign cash accounts and international money transfers, however from 2 July 2021 ASB will no longer buy or sell foreign cash in-branch.”

He said customers still had alternatives such as withdrawing cash from ATMs overseas, using their debit or credit cards for payments, or buying and selling foreign currency via external specialist providers. And it is not alone in making changes.

In April BNZ stopped offering to buy or sell foreign cash.

A spokesman for the bank said its focus over the last year had been to give customers more flexibility in doing their foreign currency exchanges. “We have removed overseas ATM fees so customers can ... get foreign currency without being charged. This means they don’t have to [organise] cash before they travel.”

A Westpac spokesman confirmed it stopped offering foreign exchange cash services to non-customers in March.

“We stopped offering those services to non-Westpac customers in March, which has allowed us to prioritise serving our own customers and has reduced the risk of fraud and money laundering.”

Meanwhile an ANZ spokeswoman confirmed it stopped offering foreign exchange cash services last November. A Kiwibank spokeswoman confirmed it had stopped offering a foreign cash service in November 2019.

“We refer customers with foreign cash requirements to travelex.co.nz.”