Government urges Commonwealth Bank to 'reconsider' its $3 withdrawal fee

The federal government said it is closely looking into Commonwealth Bank's move to charge their customers a $3 withdrawal fee.

It comes the day after Australia's largest bank announced that from January 6, customers will be charged a fee for withdrawing cash over the counter at a branch, post office or over the phone.

The fee won't apply to customers under the age of 18 or any ATM withdrawals.

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Commonwealth is forcing existing customers to move from their complete access accounts to new smart access accounts.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher today urged the bank to reverse the decision.

"This type of charging and looking at $3 per transaction, I think, it's really hard, and particularly for those customers that have those types of accounts and want to go into the branches," she told ABC News Breakfast.

"So we're having a close look at this … I would really think that some goodwill here just before Christmas is for the CBA to have a think about the announcement that they made yesterday."

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Commonwealth Bank's retail banking services group executive Angus Sullivan defended the decision yesterday, saying it would only affect 10 per cent of their customers.

"The last thing we want to do is upset our customers," he told Nine's A Current Affair.

"We're doing as much as we can to support them with fee-free options, support, exemptions to make this change as manageable as possible.

"But the reality is, there's also a cost associated with offering this service."

Commonwealth Bank isn't the only institution that charges customers a withdrawal fee.

ANZ and Bendigo Bank charge some of their customers fees ranging from 80 cents to $2.50.

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