Banks maintained 5,483 branches in 2014

The number of banking services branches across Australia has increased 15 per cent since 2001, according to the Australian Bankers Association's report, "Fees for Banking Services", released yesterday.

 As of June 2014, banks maintained 5,483 branches, accounting for 86 per cent of the total number of banking service branches.

Building societies made up 3.5 per cent of the total, with 244 branches, while credit unions had 604 branches.

In addition to their branches, banks provide a further 2,361 service points such as agencies and rural financial centres, while Bank@Post now has 3,224 service points in Australia Post branches.

There are 30,544 ATMs and 826,729 EFTPOS machines across Australia.

The survey also highlights the degree to which households and businesses are active users of their transaction accounts and credit cards. Over the past year, A$16 trillion was transacted using ATMs, EFTPOS, direct entry and cheques.

Credit card transactions worth $281 billion took place over the same period.