Hampton Park Commonwealth Bank impending closure

One of the big four banks has decided to withdraw from Hampton Park, closing its branch much to the anger of locals.

Hampton Park Commonwealth Bank branch is closing its doors on July 15, much to the dismay of locals that prefer to bank in person (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

The loss of one of the big four banks from Hampton Park will make it harder for older customers to do their weekly banking, angry locals say.

The Commonwealth Bank’s Hampton Park branch will close on Friday, July 15, due to a decrease in transactions, the bank’s regional general manager Nicole Rahme said.

Following a review in line with our lease expiry, we made the difficult decision to permanently close the branch,” Ms Rahme said.

“Transactions at the branch had dropped by half over the five year period before the pandemic.”

Ms Rahme said that despite the branch closure, customers who prefer over-the-counter service will still be looked after.

“For our Hampton Park customers, we have other branches in the surrounding area, including Fountain Gate, Dandenong Plaza, Cranbourne and Casey Central.

“We’ve found 33 per cent of customers from Hampton Park already use those branches.”

Locals, however, argue that the decision would negatively impact Hampton Park’s vulnerable community members.

One customer told Leader she preferred to bank in-person, and had banked at the Hampton Park branch for over three decades.

She said the closing of the branch was “unfair to the people of Hampton Park”.

“It’s the only bank I go to and don’t want to go anywhere else,” she said.

Ms Rahme said that all staff will be redeployed to other branches or opportunities.

“Our people from Hampton Park branch will be put into other comparable roles where it suits them. There are no job losses as a result of this decision.”

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