The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released its 2024 authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) Points of Presence Statistics.

The Points of Presence Statistics are a detailed listing of the physical banking service channels provided to Australians, including branches, ATMs and EFTPOS facilities. As the national data collection agency for the financial sector, APRA collects points of presence information from banks, credit unions and building societies and publishes it annually, in keeping with a 2000 Parliamentary Inquiry that identified there was no uniform data collection on the delivery of banking services in Australia.

The latest statistics show the ongoing trend of a decline in physical points of presence over the last year albeit at a slower rate than the previous year. The number of bank branches declined 6 per cent across Australia between June 2023 and June 2024, including a 3 per cent decline in regional and remote areas. Between June 2017 and June 2024, there was a 41 per cent fall in the number of branches across the country, including a 36 per cent decline in regional and remote areas.

Acting on feedback from last year’s consultation into possible improvements to Points of Presence Statistics, APRA has made a number of updates to the format of the publication. Charts have been added to make the data easier to interpret, while users can now filter the data according to geographic location, banking service and individual ADI. Bank@Post facilities have been included as a separate category and APRA has also inserted more geographic categorisations on the location of banking services.

APRA continues to consider the broad range of feedback received on possible changes to the underlying data collection. APRA will continue engaging with key stakeholders on ways to increase transparency around the availability of banking services in Australia, noting that these services are increasingly delivered through digital channels that aren’t covered by the Points of Presence collection. 

Copies of the latest ADI points of presence statistics are available on APRA’s website at: Authorised deposit-taking institutions' points of presence statistics.