Commonwealth Bank begins re-purposing regional branches

Commonwealth Bank is partly re-purposing 90 regional branches, as it tries to keep them open while also moving staff to other tasks. See the list of branches.

CBA wants to partially repurpose 90 regional branches, as a way of keeping them open.

Commonwealth Bank is partly re-purposing 90 regional branches across the nation, as it attempts to keep them open while also allocating staff to other tasks.

The changes will see those 90 branches – nearly 10 per cent of CBA’s network – serve the local community’s customers from 9.30am to 1pm on weekdays, before they are closed and staff are redirected to assist CBA’s contact and call centres.

The branch plan will affect those including Narooma on the NSW south coast, Jindabyne in NSW’s Snowy Mountains region and stretch as far as Western Australia’s south coast at Esperance and Katanning, which is almost 300km southeast of Perth. The changes take effect in September and follow consultation with CBA staff.

CBA’s executive manager for the customer service network Mark Jones said all of the impacted communities would continue to have access to the bank’s ATMs and could use Australia Post outlets.

“Our branches in regional Australia will continue to play an important role in delivering great service to our customers now and into the future, and this is an example of how we are adapting to meet changing customers’ evolving needs while ensuring jobs stay in regional communities,” he added.

“We’re expanding our Australian-based contact centre network from five dedicated locations to over 90 communities across the country, while keeping a physical banking presence in regional communities.

“We understand these changes may be an adjustment for some of our customers, and the team at their local branch will continue to be available to help them find the solutions.”

The rationalisation of branches and services within them is a growing trend in the sector, as banks cite growing use of digital channels. The number of bank branches and similar services across Australia tumbled to 5173 in June last year, down from 5816 just three years earlier, official data shows.

CBA, which has the nation’s biggest network of branches, had 928 across the group at the end of March.

The bank said while Covid-19 had not changed how it determined the branch footprint and services, digital banking uptake had accelerated through the past 18 months, building on a trend already underway.

CBA noted that over recent years it had seen a “significant increase” in customers using options on its app or website with the bank serving 7.5 million digitally-active customers.

Its analysis showed customers in older demographics were “actively engaging” with CBA online, and in one month last year the bank saw a doubling in customers over 60 accessing digital services. That compared to those that had visited a branch in the prior three months.

The latest development for CBA branches comes a month after Australia Post brokered new service agreements with National Australia Bank and CBA.

The two major banks separately signed new 10-year deals for Bank@Post, which provides banking services at more than 3500 local post offices.

CBA’s statement on Tuesday said it invests about $50m in its branch network annually, spanning upgrades, refurbishments and to open new branches “where there is customer demand”.