Commonwealth Bank: Closures of more branches and removal of ATMs hits communities
The Big Four banks are continuing to close branches and remove ATMs nationally. This is why they need to rethink their strategies.
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Customers are continuing to be hit with less options to do their banking as branches and ATMs disappear in droves.
And I know the impact this can have because it’s hit my family directly.
I grew up in a little Victorian country town, Smeaton, 132km northwest of Melbourne with a population of about 200 people.
The closest town with essential services including banks, a supermarket, post office, police station and a hospital is Creswick, which has a population of about 3100.
And now many in the local community feel like the greed of big banks is costing them.
The nation’s largest lender, the Commonwealth Bank, is shutting its doors on the bank branch after a 27-year history in the town.
It will shut on November 22.
My family have banked there for decades and visit the bank branch multiple times a week, running a farm and a small business like many other people.
Earlier this month I got hold of exclusive data from each of the big four banks revealing how many bank branches they had shut down and ATMs they ripped out in the past 12 months.
It totalled 157 branches and 593 ATMs.
Banks certainly don’t discriminate — it’s not just regional towns that are hit but also metropolitan locations.
Westpac was the worst offender — its brands including BankSA, St George and Bank of Melbourne — shutting the doors on 57 branches and ripping out 349 ATMs.
It’s a trend that has continued for years now.
There used to be multiple banks in my family’s nearby town of Creswick, but when CBA shuts it doors on November 22 it will be left with one bank branch belonging to the Bendigo Bank.
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Ripping out these branches indicates banks are only focused on their bottom line, not their customers.
Clearly the bank branches are not the money spinners they once were.
Customers are not waltzing in there and requesting a platter of products that bring the banks the big bucks.
Yes, the banks are well within their rights to shut these branches.
But let’s not forget, in regional situations many customers include farmers and small businesses operators rely on going into the bank branch to do their banking.
Face-to-face customer service is important for a large cohort of customers — many have relationships with staff and even the bank manager.
And in both metro and regional locations bank branches are important for older Australians and those who don’t want to be forced to log on online and do their banking.
They want to go into the branch and deal with a human being.
There’s no doubt more people are transacting digitally but as the Finance Sector Union of Australia pointed out to me earlier this month, bank staff have for years been forced to push customers away from branches, encouraging them to interact with the bank online.
This drives down their costs but ultimately puts bank workers out of jobs.
It’s clear to me who the banks really care about here.