regional bank closures

An elderly Denmark man paid the airfares for his niece and her husband to come to WA from England so he could move his life savings from Bank West to the Commonwealth Bank. The couple’s airfares cost Kevin Doherty, 87, $6100 for the niece to help him with drawing up his will as well as the bank transfers for term deposits because he is unable to do online banking.

Former pharmacist and Denmark Shire councillor Adrian Hinds, 87, wants banks to allow non-computer users to make cheque payments when cash is not appropriate ... He prefers to use cheques believing there are insufficient protections for bank customers from fraudulent electronic transfers from their accounts.

Hugh Schuitemaker. Further support measures are needed to ensure further closures to Riverland bank branches are avoided, according to the region’s Federal MP. The Federal Government last week announced an agreement with banks to “ensure banking services remain available in the regions”.

For the many people who have spent years working on this issue, culminating in the senate inquiry being called in 2023, the failure to respond officially to the final report and subsequent behavior of the federal treasurer, is highly disrespectful ... Jim Chalmers needs to recognise the democratic processes of government and stop white-anting the findings of this inquiry.

Just when it seemed ANZ’s attempts to justify the closure of a regional NSW branch in defiance of a condition of the Suncorp acquisition deal not to close any regional sites for three years could not get any more farcical, the bank has upped the ante. In a letter to a customer complaining about the planned closure of the Katoomba branch next month, ANZ claimed that although it had triggered regional branch closure protocols (established as a direct result of two federal government inquiries into regional bank closures), the protocol was not about regional branches.

ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott made frequent mentions of “reputational risk” while giving evidence to the house standing committee investigating the big four banks in Canberra on Friday ... it is surprising that when asked about regional bank closures by commitee chairman Daniel Mulino he chose to withhold information about two branches in regional Australia that ANZ plans to close later this year.

Unable to turn their backs on disgraceful behaviour by the major banks over regional closures, a senate inquiry has lit a bomb under them. The pressure is now on the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones to accept all recommendations in full.

After a thorough investigation, the Banking Code Compliance Committee (BCCC) has found that Westpac breached its obligations under the Banking Code of Practice over its handling of its Tennant Creek branch closure in September 2022. The BCCC has determined that Westpac failed to comply with the ABA Branch Closure Protocol and did not provide adequate support to affected customers in the remote Tennant Creek community during the transition period.

At a media event to release the latest Regional Movers Index data, Commonwealth Bank representative Paul Fowler and Regional Australia Institute chief executive Liz Ritchie were asked three times why the branch was closing the same day as the Sunshine Coast was being celebrated as a rapidly-growing centre ... In 2021, acting RAI CEO Kim Houghton put in a submission to a taskforce that had more bankers on it than MPs but there was nothing from Ms Ritchie during the recent senate inquiry ...