His point is, cash isn't free. It costs money to secure it, have guards refill ATMs, check it for fraud, etc. Somehow, as a customer of the bank, you're paying for it. Either though service fees, poor exchange rates, etc.

> There's also no fees for having a checking account

In the US, people with poor credit are often unable to get even a checking account. This is because banks figure those customers are not going to be profitable since they're not going to use the services they can earn fees on.