ANZ’s decision to remove the $1 fee it charges customers for using another bank’s ATM follows a call from Consumer NZ for all banks to eliminate these charges. Last year, Consumer NZ called on ANZ, ASB, BNZ, Kiwibank, The Cooperative Bank and Westpac to remove ATM fees. ANZ bank found that people regarded the charge as unfair because even though they were using another bank’s ATM, they were still accessing their own money.
The fee kicks in when a consumer uses a competing bank’s ATM. ANZ estimates it does eight million such transactions annually. The company announced it would remove the fee from 26 March. The bank will also be reducing or simplifying other fees this year. The end of the ATM charge by ANZ means that hopefully, other NZ banks will follow suit.
