Hi Cash Lovers, 

"Only banks have ATMs."
 
That's what Tim Wildash was told in 1999. Now he's Tim Wildash OAM, recognised in the King's Birthday honours 2025 for services to the cash industry.

So what has Tim done for cash in Australia? Tim has installed thousands of ATMs in places the banks won't go.

When a bank leaves town, Tim is prepared to invest in a community and deploy an ATM to keep cash flowing.

In 1999, Tim saw how independents were providing ATMs in the USA directly to consumers in venues, clubs, service stations, convenience shops and locations where no bank can be found.

Tim fought the Australian banks and regulators through the early years of the 21st century for the right to charge consumers a direct, up-front fee and won.

Suddenly ATMs could be installed wherever people wanted cash, without requiring funding and support of a big bank.

Now Tim leads Next Payments, a market leader in the ATM industry with 150 staff and 4,600 machines deployed in Australia and New Zealand.

Tim is particularly concerned about the potential for social profiling to be used against consumers.

"If you buy takeaway food or have a bet you can be immediately red-flagged by your bank or card company as a higher risk," said Tim Wildash.

"Data is the new oil and our digital transactions create bucket-loads of personal information that is used by marketing companies and who knows who else?"

"Every Australian needs to be able to access cash to ensure we can keep control of our personal information, our privacy and our budget."

"Without cash there can be no guarantee our information is confidential, every transaction we make can be tracked and traced and we can be judged on our spending habits by lenders, banks and government."

"I'm a strong believer in the cash economy and our right to choose how we pay," said Tim.

In recent years, Tim has invested to make Next Payments a carbon neutral company.

"Taking action on climate change is a collective responsibility," said Tim.

Next Payments became carbon neutral on 14th December 2022.

Thank you Tim Wildash for helping to maintain our access to cash, our legal tender.

Yours sincerely, 

Jason Bryce

jason@cashwelcome.org