Are Your Noodling Activities Just A Front For A Money Laundering Operation?

I think that if a teller asked that I would say "Am I legally required to tell you" or "I won't tell you" or something like that. In Canada all transactions of $10,000 or more are tracked, but as far as I know it is none of the bank's business why you have smaller amounts.

Some things to remember.

1. While you might not like it or agree with it, it actually is their business for them to try to find out why you're using the bank's time and money in obtaining large amounts of coin, especially in this post-Pandemic era where very few people use cash and therefore very few businesses actually have a legitimate need to withdraw a thousand $2 coins. So yes, it's a reasonable question for a bank to ask, even if it's not compulsory for you to answer honestly.

2. Honesty is the best policy - don't lie and make up some furphy about it being needed for your kids school P&C for their fete, or some such nonsense.

3. At the same time, never, never tell the bank you're a coin collector and that you're going through these coins to look for rare coins and that you'll be "dumping" them all back into the banking system in the near future, once you've examined each coin individually. That is effectively admitting to them that you are intending to deliberately waste their staff's time and their shareholder's money, for no real valid economic reason. If they find out or even suspect this is your goal, they will attempt to thwart and discourage you. Banks exist to make profits for their shareholders and to provide essential financial services to society. Banks do not exist to supply coin collectors with rare coins - that's what the Mint Shop and the coin dealers are for.

Exactly how you resolve the paradox of obeying both statements 2 and 3 is up to you.

This bloke didn't seem concerned about giving me the coins. Things turned weird when I gave him $2000 cash instead of using funds in my account.

But all in all I use only machine in wall installed by the banks.

all you need to do is not go overboard as most people not using much cash these days which I find sort of odd, I would say rich people are hoarding cash. Definitely not going to my bank to launder 2K at the bank again :D

Quite sure its an APRA that banks need to record 5K international or 10K transactions due to criminal activities (really cause that one guy was able to funnel money to terror group that they had to make it hard), and usually they will ask if it's something they feel is a waste of time just so they can discourage you from costing them money. It's really just peanuts to be honest at the moment I feel that there might be a day even in Australia that they might limit your withdrawals, technical error pfff .