The Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis in Australia has caused the closure of thousands of ATMs and hundreds of bank branches in the country.

At least 2,150 terminals have been removed in the recent June quarter alone. This has brought the number of ATM terminals across the country to just 25,720 – their lowest level in 12 years – according to the Australian Payments Network.

According to Tony Richards, head of payments policy at the Reserve Bank of Australia, most of the ATM closures were in metropolitan areas, in locations such as shopping centers.

In addition, Australia's "Big Four" banks – ANZ, Commonwealth, NAB and Westpac – have also shut down a combined 175 branches over the past 12 months. Of these, ANZ has the highest with 68 branches closed, followed by Commonwealth with 44. Meanwhile, Westpac and NAB have shut down 36 and 27 branches, respectively.

The widespread closures have divided public opinion and, more importantly, left 2.5 million elderly Australians who don't do online banking with no way to access their money.

Closures speeding up the move to a cashless society

Even as the closures inconvenience some of Australia's most vulnerable, banking officials are saying that they expect the trend of moving away from cash to continue in the long-term.