More than half the nation's ATMs will not be included in the major banks' blitz on cash machine fees, re-igniting calls for action to ban or curb the charges. 

The big four banks' rush to scrap ATM fees for customers of other banks has been hailed as a win for consumers, but bank critics have warned it was not enough to prevent gouging by other owners of ATMs outside the major banks.

Charges of anywhere between $2.00 and $2.80 are common, and even though the big banks control about 80 per cent of the market in retail banking, they own less than 40 per cent of the ATMs.

It means consumers that want to avoid throwing away money for the ease of a transaction will need to be picky about where they withdraw cash.

About 55 per cent of all machines are owned by specialist ATM operators, the Reserve Bank said in the latest public figures of 2015. These machines are often located in pubs, convenience stores, or at festivals, and tend to charge $3 or more for a transaction. 

The Greens last year pushed for a broad-based ban on "excessive" ATM fees, as well as banning banks from charging customers from other banks, but it was not supported by Labor or the Coalition.

Greens leader Richard di Natale on Monday welcomed the big four's decision to dump "greedy fees" but re-iterated the party's call for a broad ban on "excessive" withdrawal fees.

"The reality is that as long as half of the ATM's in this country are owned privately, we're going to have a major problem with extortionately high withdrawal fees," Senator di Natale said.

Labor Senator Sam Dastyari also said the government should look at regulating to make sure all lenders and specialist ATM businesses also lowered or removed their fees. Senator Dastyari said some specialist ATM businesses outside cities operated in a "monopolistic" fashion. 

"I think the government should now look at what can be done to either ban this completely or at least put some regulation in place to say this should not be more than cost recovery," he said.