Suncorp shutters branches as COVID changes banking behaviours

More customers were now banking online or by phone and affected staff could work at call centres, Suncorp said.

Customers will be contacted by letter and email to outline the changes.

Banking and insurance group Suncorp has announced it will close 19 branches amid a 60 per cent drop in over-the-counter transactions, accelerated by the restrictions put in place as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

Suncorp said in a statement on Wednesday that most of the branches to be permanently shut had been closed since April, when the COVID-19 restrictions were in place.

Many customers of those branches had transitioned to online or phone banking, making reopening those 19 branches unviable, the bank said.

“Suncorp is committed to serving our customers how they want be served – many have shown us they love using the Suncorp app or talking to us on the phone,” said Chris Fleming, Suncorp’s executive general manager of consumer distribution.

“More and more customers have switched to digital banking in 2020, and we expect they will still want to bank digitally beyond COVID-19 and face-to-face transactions will fall further.”

Wendy Streets, Queensland local executive secretary for the Finance Sector Union of Australia, said Suncorp had been aggressively closing branches for the past two years.

“Prior to COVID Suncorp had already closed almost 50 branches and are now taking another swipe with an additional 19 closures using COVID as the substantive reason,” she said.

“The fact is Suncorp has had 14 of these branches closed during COVID.

“To now try to justify ‘changing customer behaviours’ as the reason for closure is a bit rich when their customers had been stranded with no branch for months.”

Suncorp said affected employees would be given the opportunity to apply for call centre positions that can be done from home.

Suncorp said that in most cases, an alternative branch or an Australia Post outlet was close to the branches that are set to be permanently closed. The bank will be left with 93 branches around country following the closures.

In Queensland, Suncorp will permanently close Burpengary, Elanora, Hamilton, Sherwood, Stafford, Victoria Point and Biloela Business Centre branches, all of which remained closed due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Beenleigh and West End are currently open and scheduled for closure next month.

In NSW, Albury, Erina, Haymarket, Newtown, Neutral Bay and Port Macquarie branches are currently closed and will not reopen. Rouse Hill and Eastgardens will close next month and Ballina is scheduled to be closed in November.

In Victoria, Suncorp’s Richmond and Knox branches would not reopen.

Suncorp said that the number of digital transactions has grown 10 per cent since the start of this year, while over the counter transactions had dropped nearly 60 per cent since June 2016.

“Suncorp must make changes to our business so we can keep up with our customers’ demands and remain a strong alternative to the major banks, which is something our customers also value,” Mr Flemming said.

“We can only be a genuine choice over the major banks if we focus on customer needs and keep our bank strong.”

Customers will be contacted by letter and email to outline the changes.