(Bloomberg) -- Commonwealth Bank of Australia scrapped plans to charge customers a fee to withdraw cash at branches and on the phone within a day of announcing a policy that drew criticism from the government.
Australia’s biggest bank had planned to implement a A$3 ($1.92) “assisted withdrawal fee” when customers took money out at a branch, post office, or by phone for certain accounts.
It’s a rare misstep for the nation’s largest company and led to a discussion between Chief Executive Matt Comyn and Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers. It comes as the country’s big lenders face growing scrutiny for reducing their physical footprints as cash use dwindles in favor of digital transactions.
“We have done a poor job of communicating this change to our customers,” Angus Sullivan, Group Executive Retail for Banking Services, said in a statement. “We are particularly conscious of the impact any change to planned fees and charges can have at this time of year especially given the cost of living pressures our customers face.”
Instead the bank will move 90% of the customers who would have been affected to a lower monthly fee account, while for the other 10% the bank is “pausing the migration” and will discuss other account options with them.
Chalmers said he spoke with Comyn earlier Wednesday and that the government had clearly told the bank the intended charges were “not acceptable.”
“People are doing it tough enough as it is, they didn’t need this at Christmas or any other time,” Chalmers said. “So it’s a good thing that the Commonwealth Bank is having another look at it.”
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