Aozora Bank introduces the Cashless Teller

It was only yesterday that we learned Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation would stop handling cash transactions over the counter at 300 of its branches in Japan by 2022, equating to just about 70% of their branches, which left us wondering “why only 70%” and “why only by 2022?”.

The answer to this question today came from Aozora Bank, which has been experimenting with the cashless teller since announcing last November that it would — and did — discontinue cash transactions at their Osaka branch in February this year.

At the time of the announcement, pre-pandemic, Aozora Bank made clear that teller windows that handle checks, cash deposits, withdrawals, transfers, exchanges and utility/tax payments would no longer be available. This was followed up with an announcement on October 1, 2020, that such facilities would cease to operate at all eight Tokyo-area branches by December 21. The announcement today extends this to all branches by the end of the year.

Aozora’s customers are able to make deposits at any Seven Bank ATM and deposits & withdrawals at all Japan Post Bank ATMs (with which it has been co-operating since 2018) in Japan, including those located inside the branches, free of charge. Also, in place of cash withdrawals, tellers will provide retail customers with account transfers to their accounts held at other banks free of charge, regardless of the amount.

Having been one of the leading banks in customer-facing digitalization, in mid-2019, the bank also released their redesigned website and consumer app in collaboration with Unit One and NTT Data, quite openly stating that “the old, cumbersome layout” has been replaced with a “simple, fast, and smart” design concept.

Aozora Bank seems to be a place where decisions can be made quickly and one is not shy to amend decisions shortly after making them public. Maybe someone on the inside asked “why not all branches?”

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