Mitcham to be without a bank after ANZ, Commonwealth Bank close
The last standing bank in Mitcham’s shopping precinct is set to close this month, leaving locals feeling like their suburb is “becoming a forgotten part of the world”.
East
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Another shopping precinct in Melbourne’s east is about to lose its last bank, to the dismay of nearby businesses and neighbours.
Mitcham will be without a bank from next month, with its ANZ branch set to shut on October 31, just 10 months after Commonwealth Bank closed its branch.
ANZ has blamed the closure on a drop customers numbers and a shift towards online banking, but people are already mourning the branch’s impending departure.
Mishou’s Cafe owner Michael Nakat, whose business is two doors up from the ANZ branch, said he would “for sure” lose customers with the bank’s closure.
He said the cafe had been impacted when the Commonwealth Bank branch closed, and said it was one of the main reasons his business had been having its quietest year in its 14-year history.
Mr Nakat said shoppers preferred to go to precincts which offered a range of services, so they could do several errands at once.
He said customers who used to come to the area to do their banking were now being forced away from Mitcham and towards larger shopping centres.
“You can feel it,” he said.
“They don’t come here anymore.”
But Mr Nakat said he was more worried about how the inconvenience would impact the community, especially elderly customers who would now have to catch a bus or a taxi to visit a bank.
Mitcham Residents Association president Tony Hogg said he was also concerned residents,
particularly the elderly, who were the main people still attending banks, would no longer be in close reach of one.
He said people would now have to travel to Ringwood or Forest Hill to be able to deposit cash.
Whitehorse Cr Ben Stennett was disappointed at the closure.
“Banks are abandoning the residents and businesses of Mitcham,” he said.
“There’s nothing in Nunawading either.”
“It’s becoming a forgotten part of the world.”
ANZ Victoria and Tasmania general manager Michael Wake confirmed both the Mitcham ANZ branch and ATM would be closed at the end of the month.
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“These decisions are never taken lightly and we apologise for the inconvenience we know this will cause some of our customers,” he said.
“Our decision to close Mitcham has been made due to decreased number of customers using the branch in recent years.”
Mr Wake said 71 per cent of customers who allocated Mitcham as their home branch preferred online and mobile banking.
He said the bank had written to customers about alternative banking options, and that face-to-face banking could still be done 4.5km away at the Eastland ANZ branch.
Mitcham is losing its last bank almost a year after the last bank in Blackburn Station Village closed in September 2018, upsetting nearby traders.