The doors closed on Kyogle’s National Australia Bank [on] Thursday, October 19.

The closures of bank branches across regional Australia has been happening with regularity in the past five years and continues with the Kyogle closure.

NAB’s Greater Regional NSW retail customer executive Allison Baker said they made “the difficult decision to close the NAB branch in Kyogle because fewer customers were using it for their banking”.

“While we understand the community will be disappointed, this decision was made after looking closely at the number of customers using the branch and the increased use of digital banking in the area,” Ms Baker said.

NAB customers can bank at Kyogle Post Office without any fee charges.

The other closest NAB banks are in Casino and Lismore. – the Lismore branch was refurbished in 2022.

Kyogle NAB never had an ATM.

The NAB cited statistics that showed about 50 per cent of Kyogle customers only visited the Summerland Way branch once in the last year.

Their statistics state that cash withdrawals and cheque deposits have gone down dramatically as more and more people banked online.

In 2020 there were: 4146 withdrawals and 2431 deposits.

In 2022 there were: 322 withdrawals and 1137 deposits.

As you’d expect cheque deposits halved. In 2020, there were 398 cheques deposited at the Kyogle NAB and by 2022, it was down to 150.

These stats are from NAB, not an independent entity.

For those people in Kyogle who prefer face to face, the post office is your best bet otherwise it is a trip to Casino or Lismore.

NAB said there wouldn’t be any job losses for bank staff from the Kyogle branch.

This article appeared on indyNR.com on 20 October 2023.