FSU wants government intervention over branch closures as it prepares for wages push

The Finance Sector Union, which is preparing a new round of wage negotiations, says the government should intervene to stop banks closing their branches, particularly in regional areas.

Finance Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano. Picture: Hollie Adams

The Finance Sector Union wants government action to stop bank branch closures, pointing to the sectors unrelenting departure from communities, despite some suggestions the industry had slowed its pace.

Finance Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano said the group, which represents workers across the banking, insurance, superannuation, brokering and general finance sectors, would pursue the interests of members this year after wrapping up hard-fought bargaining at some of Australia’s biggest banks last year.

Ms Angrisano singled out Bank of Queensland’s latest move to close 14 branches. Another 16 are expected to go, including bank branches in both Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s electorates. She said government intervention would be needed to preserve in-person banking access for many Australians.

Ms Agrisano said BOQ’s closure of branches came despite the FSU warning assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones over the issue, and that the government had done nothing to respond to a landmark review into regional areas where many people no longer have access to face-to-face banking.

Although the way people banked has changed, many still needed branches, she said. Ms Angrisano highlighted the increase in scams and fraud had led some people to return to in-person banking due to their distrust with electronic transactions.

“Banks have done whatever they wanted in a self-regulated way in regards to branch closures; what we’re calling for is a properly mandated industry code that would require banks to consult with their workforce and communities,” she said.

“That would require banks to properly consider the community impact from closures; is there another branch or how far is the nearest branch?”

The Senate’s regional banks inquiry reported in May last year, and the Nationals-led committee recommended new policies be put in place to guarantee access to cash and financial services.

This included a call to give regulators powers to defer or deny branch closure requests.

Australia’s major banks have walked away from many communities. The prudential regulator’s data shows in the seven year to 2024 the decline was 2334 branches.

Major banks have increasingly relied on Australia Post to offer banking services. Westpac, NAB, and CBA use post offices to supplement their services.

ANZ does not offer banking services with AusPost.

Ms Angrisano said banks weren’t considering communities and that the Australian Banking Association, led by former Queensland Labor premier Anna Bligh, was not having an impact through its code of conduct.

“We believe left to their own devices, we’ll see the banks close more branches,” she said.

Ms Angrisano said she was also concerned about the broader banking sector’s failure to get on top of issues highlighted in the 2018 Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.

BOQ chief executive Patrick Allaway. Picture: Jane Dempster

The Banking Code Compliance Committee recently sanctioned BOQ and ANZ over charging fees to dead customers, saying both banks had clearly failed.

ASIC is understood to be investigating ANZ over the issue.

“You would have thought the banks had learned their lessons and are investing properly in their systems and processes,” Ms Angrisano said.

“It’s linked back to this issue of branches, it’s big banks not caring about people and communities they service, it is about maximising profits.”

Ms Angrisano said the current BCCC system was an unenforceable code that “means nothing to banks”.

“The regulators should look into all matters they’re aware of,” she said.

The FSU is also gearing up for several major employment bargaining agreement negotiations this year across the banking, insurance, and superannuation sector.

Financial institution AMP is a target for the FSU after the ASX-listed wealth player terminated its EBA in February last year, slashing in half redundancy entitlements for staff and attempting to push staff on to award conditions.

Superannuation operators Aware Super and Host Plus, as well as insurers RACQ and Auto and General, are up for negotiation this year. That’s alongside Police bank, among a string of other operators in the sector.

Ms Angrisano said members across the finance sector were calling for pay increases to manage the cost of living, pointing to several recent deals guaranteeing 4-5 per cent pay increases as to where the FSU would seek to anchor future wage expectations.

She also said the FSU would prioritise bargaining to ensure companies gave workers a greater say about how artificial intelligence was introduced across the sector.

“We think there should be a moratorium on job losses from AI,” Ms Angrisano said.

She said bank managements were targeting AI rollouts, but that “no one is genuinely engaging with their workforce on what that will mean to them”.

“We have secured clauses in Insignia Financial and Cbus last year that expanded on how the employers should consult with the workforce over AI,” she said.

Originally published as FSU wants government intervention over branch closures as it prepares for wages push