Community Bank Rowville: Anger as Wellington Village branch closes

The community helped get it started, but the doors have now closed at a Rowville bank branch, forcing customers to travel further for services.

The Community Bank Rowville has closed.

The decision to close a Rowville community bank branch has been labelled a “disgrace” by a Knox councillor.

The Board of Knox Community Financial Services Limited – operators of the Community Bank Rowville and Community Bank Ferntree Gully branches – have made the “difficult” decision to consolidate the operations of the two sites.

A Bendigo and Adelaide Bank spokesperson said the decision to close the Wellington Village Rowville branch came after a recent review of customer banking habits, transaction activity and visitor numbers.

It follows a string of bank branch closures across Melbourne, with Commonwealth Bank branches in Carnegie and Hampton Park the latest to shut their doors.

Knox Cr Darren Pearce said he began to have suspicions about the future of the Rowville branch at the start of the year, when it stopped supporting a volunteer community newspaper, and then closed because of staff shortages.

“(The closure) was only supposed to be temporary but it went on and on and next thing they are announcing the community bank branch is closing down,” Cr Pearce said.

“I see it as a betrayal of trust.”

Cr Pearce, a former board member of Knox Community Financial Services Limited, said a quarter of a million dollars was raised by local residents 15 years ago to fund the conversion of the bank branch into a full service community bank.

“To pull the pin on it now is a disgrace,” he said.

“What is their justification?

“This is supposed to be a community bank – the whole purpose is to provide vital banking services to the local community and use the profits of that to reinvest in the community.”

Cr Pearce said a lot of customers would now have no physical bank branch to go to.

“I recognise banking has changed, but what about lending, applying for personal loan or a mortgage, all those other services,” he said.

The Bendigo and Adelaide Bank spokesperson said the decision to consolidate the two branches had been a necessary one, due to the rapidly changing nature of how people now choose to conduct their banking, and the proximity of the two branches.

The spokesperson said Rowville customers could continue to perform face-to-face banking at Community Bank Ferntree Gully or transact as normal at any other Bendigo Bank branch or ATM, via internet banking, mobile app or phone banking.

“The purpose of our unique Community Bank model is to feed into local prosperity in the form of grants, sponsorships and scholarships and the Board’s decision further reflects this commitment,” the spokesperson said.

“This decision will ensure our Community Bank is better positioned to continue returning profits to the local community now and into the future.

“We will continue to support local initiatives and community groups throughout the surrounding area as we have always done and our commitment to support community-determined projects in Rowville will not change as part of this decision.”