NAB regional bank closures resume as moratorium quietly lifted

Six country towns will lose their branch of the National Australia Bank, after the finance giant lifted a moratorium on regional closures.

The National Australia Bank will close six country branches, including this one at Cobden.

A MORATORIUM on regional branch closures has been quietly lifted by the National Australia Bank — with six country towns in the firing line.

Cobden and Balmoral in western Victoria will lose their NAB branches within weeks as will Dorrigo and Blayney in NSW and Bargara and Murgon in Queensland.

The bank made no major announcement, unlike in 2019 when it introduced a moratorium on regional bank closures, which ended six weeks ago.

Former Corangamite Shire mayor Jo Beard claimed NAB had used data from last year to justify its move to pull out of Cobden, despite normal trade being disrupted by rolling coronavirus restrictions.

“The lack of consultation with the community by NAB was pretty poor. We weren’t told about the branch closure until they made up their mind that they were leaving Cobden,” Cr Beard said.

“It’s frustrating that they made the decision based on 2020 figures, which of course have been skewed by coronavirus restrictions.

“Once a town loses a bank, that equals lost trade for local businesses and forcing everyone from farmers to the elderly to travel further to do their banking.”

NAB retail customer executive Nicholas Faulkner said no job losses would be incurred by the closure of the Cobden and Balmoral branches.

“Nearly half of our customers in Balmoral and Cobden have only visited the branch once in the last year and 80 per cent of Cobden customers are using other branches such as Terang and Camperdown, a 10-minute drive away,” he said.

“Balmoral customers are also choosing to travel to alternate towns such as Hamilton and Horsham.” Both Hamilton and Horsham are located 50 minutes drive from Balmoral.

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