Payments

Westpac to adjust ATM withdrawal limits

June 29, 2023

Westpac, a bank based in Australia, announced it will allow customers to set a cash withdrawal limit on their cards above or below $1,000 with a maximum of $2,000 daily. This comes after an outage on the bank's app left customers unable to transfer funds or use their cards, according to a report at DailyMail.com.

Cash usage has decreased in Australia as only 7% of the population use cash for 80% or more of their in-person transactions, according to data from the Reserve Bank of Australia. However, the Westpac outage has led some to argue more Australians should use cash.

"If there's no internet, there's no transactions, there's no access to your money," Ben Britton, cyber security expert, told the news outlet. "But if you have your money in your hand, or in your pocket, there could be no electricity and you'll still be able to make payments to people."