Whistleblower alleges ANZ is deliberately pushing customers out of branches

A banking industry whistleblower has sensationally claimed ANZ has “fudged” its statistics in order to justify branch closures.

EXCLUSIVE

A former ANZ employee has alleged that the bank is forcing customers out of branches and then using their absence to justify branch closures.

Phillip* told news.com.au that during the time he worked at an ANZ branch in a metropolitan area, staff were directed not to serve customers who came to the branch.

“I worked at a busy branch, but the stats on our actual customers served looked smaller because we were making customers serve themselves through digital means when they came into the bank,” he said.

Phillip said staff were told to have a “digital-first mindset”, and to direct customers to use the in-branch ATM or telephone to do their banking, or to even do banking at the ATM for customers – because these transactions would not be counted in the branch’s service stats.

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The whistleblower claims a staff were told to do banking at the ATM for customers rather then serve them over-the counter.

In July, ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott told the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics the bank had closed 287 branches across Australia since mid 2017.

He said the closures were supported by customer behaviour, adding that “a lot of people bemoan the fact that branches are closing but they don’t actually use them”.

“I mean, clearly we’re running a business here and we want to be interacting with our customers as much as possible,’’ Mr Elliott said.

“The more engaged they are with us the better from our perspective, the more loyal they’re going to be, so we have a vested interest in being able to service customers in the way that they want.”

He claimed that around 90-96 per cent of all ANZ transactions were being done digitally.

ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott said branches are closing because people “don’t actually use them”. Picture: Arsineh Houspian.

But Phillip said he “questioned the validity” of ANZ’s stats.

“When you’re pulling the amount of services in branch to encourage people to go online, of course it’s going to look like people want to go online,” Phillip said.

“Those stats are inherently fudged, they’re being driven by directives from management to front line staff telling us we can’t assist customers with certain services in branch and that they must use the ATM, the internet, the app or the call centre.”

He told news.com.au that he, and other staff, received emails from their business excellence manager (a role akin to a district manager) with directives like:

“Over-the-counter traffic is up this month, don’t let it get away from you” and “try not to do any card activations in branch this month”.

He added that other directives were delivered verbally such as “that all transactions under $1000 must be done using an ATM”.

The whistleblower alleges staff were told ‘all transactions under $1000 must be done using an ATM’. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Geraghty.

He said long queues for service were a common sight in his branch, which had multiple workstations for tellers, only one of which was ever manned.

“Customers would rightly be disgruntled at the lack of tellers.”

Phillip said the directives left staff “frustrated” by their inability to help customers, and that older customers were among the biggest losers.

When an ANZ branch in a neighbouring suburb was converted to an “assisted services branch”, with no tellers or cash services over the counter, he said his branch would receive a “massive influx on pension day of customers with old school passbooks”.

ANZ has closed 287 branches across Australia since mid 2017.

Phillip told news.com.au that in one instance, when an elderly, vision impaired customer was struggling to use an in-branch ATM he served her at the counter, and his actions were questioned by his supervisor.

“My supervisor directly said to me ‘if customers want service, it’s on our terms’. That’s the day I quit,” he said.

In October, new figures from the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) revealed that in the 12 months to June 2023, 424 bank branches – or 11 per cent of Australia’s overall branches – disappeared.

An ANZ spokesperson denied the former branch staff member’s allegations.

“This account does not reflect how our branches or our people are encouraged to operate,” the spokesperson said.

“We have over-the-counter transactions available in the majority of our branches – and in all regional branches.”

*Name changed for privacy reasons.

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