If you’re planning on working in Australia, you’ll need an Australian bank account for your employer to deposit those hard-earned dollars! The major banks in Australia are:
General opening hours for banks in Australia are 9:30am – 4pm (Monday to Thursday) and 9.30 – 5pm on Fridays.
The main banks have branches throughout the country and ATMs can be found in most places, although you might struggle to find one in small towns or off the beaten track.
Most ATMs accept cards from other banks and are linked to international networks.
Opening a Bank account
It’s relatively easy to do this providing that you act within 6 weeks of arriving in Australia. You will need to provide your passport and a permanent(ish) address.
Leave it until after 6 weeks and it gets a bit more complex: You’ll need to provide more forms of ID in order to reach 100 ‘points’ the banks will ask for - before 6 weeks your passport will count for 100 points.
For more information on paying with Cards and Eftpos, take a look at our Currency and Money page.
