CBA to close Victoria Point branch fuelling bayside anger

A bayside growth corridor has become the latest victim of a shock bank cutback, with the announcement this week of the year’s first branch closure. Up to six local jobs could go.

The Victoria Point CBA is the last of the big four banks at the local Victoria Point Shopping centre. Photo: Supplied

A bayside growth corridor has become the victim of the year’s first bank branch closure, with up to six local jobs to go when it shuts on March 10.

Staff at CBA’s Brisbane headquarters were told this week to prepare for the March closure of the Victoria Point branch, one of the bank’s three remaining staffed outlets in Redland City, south of Brisbane.

Six branch staff will be relocated where possible but the Financial Sector Union said redundancies were also to be expected.

The CBA shutdown at Victoria Point is part of a continuing trend for the big four to ditch branches and comes after CBA closed one of its largest branches at Logan Central in 2021.

It will be the last of the big four majors to leave the centre.

NAB will also close branches at Longreach and Clifton Hill, near Moorooka, in April.

The closures aim to force customers online, saving shop rental and labour costs for NAB.

Last year its CEO Matt Comyn earned $6.968 million, up 34.67 per cent from his $5.174 million 2021 salary.

CBA regional general manager Kylie Hall said the bank regularly reviewed services across Australia before making decisions on where to open, renovate, upgrade or close branches.

CBA regional general manager Kylie Hall said there was a trend to online banking. Photo: Supplied

“Customer demand at our Victoria Point branch has progressively declined, with a 42 per cent drop in transactions over the five years before the coronavirus pandemic,” Ms Hall said.

“After a recent review, we made the difficult decision to permanently close our Victoria Point branch.

“With more banking touchpoints than ever before, there has been a clear preferential shift towards digital and phone-based banking, with only 6 per cent of customers now visiting our branches regularly for everyday banking tasks.

“We recognise some customers prefer over-the-counter banking and it’s one of the reasons we’re proud to maintain the largest branch network in the country.

“But we found 37 per cent of Victoria Point customers were already visiting other nearby branches.

“We’ve redeployed the vast majority of staff from branches that have closed and are working closely with our people from the Victoria Point branch to support securing appropriate comparable roles suitable to their needs.”

There are 77 CBA branches across the state and the closure will leave only two in Redland — at Capalaba and Cleveland.

It is believed a vape and tobacco shop will open in the vacated branch site at the shopping centre, although plans have yet to be officially released.

The closure will follow the departure of Westpac, ANZ, NAB and Suncorp branches in Redland in the past two years along with branches of all four big banks in neighbouring Logan.

After the closure, expected on March 10, the closest CBA branch for Victoria Point customers to carry out over-the-counter, face-to-face transactions will be 8km away at Middle St, Cleveland.

The next nearest CBA branch will be 13km away at Moreton Bay Rd, Capalaba, or 21km away at the Logan Hyperdome.

The CBA branch at Victoria Point will close on March 10. Photo: Supplied

Victoria Point customers will also be able to get over-the-counter service at Carindale.

Australia Post’s Bank@Post service is also available at the Victoria Point West Local Post Office for personal and business banking transactions such as withdrawals, deposits, balance inquiries and passbook updates during normal business hours.

CBA invests about $50 million in its branch network each year on upgrades and opening new branches.

Residents from Redland islands and community groups took to Facebook about the closure, with many agreeing the extra travelling distance would make it difficult for elderly using public transport.

They said it would also affect those living on Coochiemudlo, Macleay, Russell, Karragarra and Lamb islands.

The country’s big four have closed about 1600 branches nationally in the past six years with 309 of those shut in 2021-22.

In the past financial year, 57 branches closed in Queensland with 96 closures in NSW and 88 in Victoria.

Between 2017 and 2022, the number of bank branches nationally dropped almost 30 per cent.

But banks said their data showed customers preferred online banking, rather than lining up at a counter.

Financial Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano said the Victoria Point closure would have a multiplier effect in the local economy.

Financial Services Union national secretary Julia Angrisano said the Victoria Point closure would have a multiplier effect in the local economy. PHOTO: Supplied

“The future is bleak for many regional and rural communities in respect of face-to-face banking services,” Ms Angrisano said.

“The banks argue that branch closures are consumer led with the majority of their customers moving to digital banking on their own, however the reality is that these changes have been initiated by the banks themselves.

“Bank staff are given targets to move customers to digital banking. This has long been a part of their business model and the banks are not afraid of losing customers in this process as their own research tells them that most of their customer base is ‘sticky’ and will stick with their bank regardless of branch closures.”

In a submission to last year’s Regional Banking Taskforce, the Finance Sector Union argued that mandatory community impact assessments should be completed by the banks and published.

Ms Angrisano said branch closures had accelerated over the past five years, but the government and banks were not heeding research to show branch closures seriously affected local communities.

“The Banks will point to their commercial partnership with Australia Post outlets to provide basic banking services in areas where there are no longer branches,” she said.

“However, if you need something more complex than withdrawals and deposits like a loan or business banking then you will have to travel.

“Redland and Victoria Point never had a great deal of branches to start with but is this the beginning of the end of all Big 4 branches?”

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority data this month showed CBA had slashed the number of its ATMs across the country from 3822 in 2015, to 3019 in 2020.

The latest branch closure announcements were expected to take the total number of its machines to around 3000.

ANZ has axed 511 machines nationally since 2015, with NAB also closing 430 over the same period, leaving it with 949 in 2020.