Commonwealth Bank: Rockhampton CBD branch closure

Rockhampton customers will have to travel to the other side of the river to access their local branch, in what is a major blow to the city heart.

The Rockhampton CBD Commonwealth Bank branch will be closing in August.

Signs have gone up out the front of a Rockhampton CBD bank branch announcing its permanent closure, in a major blow to the city heart and customers.

Commonwealth Bank’s branch on the corner of Bolsover and Denham streets will close its doors for good on August 27, meaning customers will have to travel over the river to access their local branch.

The bank confirmed it had announced the closure of the Rockhampton branch earlier in July.

This comes after the bank suffered a 22 per cent drop in visitors across its branches last year, with some branches reporting a 50 per cent reduction.

Regional general manager Kylie Hall said Commonwealth Bank regularly reviewed its branch locations across the country to decide where to open new branches, where to renovate or upgrade, or where to close them.

“Following a recent review, we made the difficult decision to permanently close our Rockhampton branch,” Ms Hall said.

“This branch has had a 41 per cent drop in transactions over the five years before the coronavirus pandemic.”

Ms Hall said there would be no job losses with that decision and staff would be offered redeployment opportunities, including customer support roles over the phone and online, or ‘other comparable roles’ where it suited them.

“We recognise some senior customers prefer to do their banking face-to-face and this is one of the reasons why CBA is proud to maintain the largest branch network in the country,” she said.

“Each year, we invest around $50 million in our branch network, to upgrade and refurbish existing branches and open new branches where we see customer demand.”

Ms Hall said there were still face-to-face services at Rockhampton North at Stockland.

She said customers could use NetBank, the Commonwealth Bank app or enquire over the phone.

There is also the option of Bank@Post at the Rockhampton Australia Post outlet, which has been renewed until 2032.

“We’ve found that 25 per cent of customers from Rockhampton are already visiting Rockhampton North,” she said.”

Commonwealth Bank says the pandemic has accelerated what it calls a ‘continuing shift’ in banking behaviour, with more customers using contact centres.

It says while about two thirds of customers used digital means to access their banking before Covid, only six per cent visited branches for transferring funds, making payments and checking balances.

Older people are increasingly using online banking with twice as many Commonwealth Bank customers accessing net banking or the app than dropping in store, according to a monthly comparison in 2020.

Originally published as Commonwealth Bank: Rockhampton CBD branch closure