Regional bank closures: Junee mounts a fight against CBA branch shutting

Rural banks are closing at an alarming speed, but one town in southern NSW is up for the fight.

Junee is rallying other towns to join in the fight against rural bank closures after securing a three-month stay of execution for its last remaining bank.

The Commonwealth Bank planned to shut on December 9, but the absence of disabled access at the post office with limited banking facilities, led to a delay in the closure until March.

Junee Shire Council has taken the lead role in trying to convince the CBA to remain open in a move which has won farmer and small business backing, and hopes it will be become a template for other towns in the same predicament.

A hearing before the Australian Finance Complaints Committee has been secured and headcounts have started on how many people are using the bank for the 10.5 hours it remains open.

The town’s ATM also goes in the closure announcement.

Junee Shire general manager James Davis.

The shire also believes the CBA has not followed the Australian Banking Association Code of Practice or the branch closure protocol in shutting.

“The community is up in arms and my councillors are up in arms,” Junee Shire general manager James Davis said.

“It’s just a matter of really exposing the underbelly of all this.

“We just want to see whether or not the government is prepared to either put a moratorium (on closures) in place or not.”

Farmer Tony Clough said being forced to travel to Wagga, a round trip of around 80km, for banking services was unacceptable.

“If you ring the Commonwealth Bank in Wagga you can’t get through to anyone,” he said.

“Whereas the branch in Junee you’d have four or five staff and they would get something sorted.

“We’ve got some big businesses around Junee that are based around agriculture and so forth so what are they going to do?

“Where do they go with their cheques and everything else?”

Junee Licorice and Chocolate Factory owner Neil Druce. Picture: Supplied

The Junee Licorice & Chocolate Factory employs more than 30 people and has more than 120,000 visitors annually.

Owner Neil Druce said the retention of the town’s banking facilities was critical.

“Regional areas have their chance to go ahead post Covid and other things,” he said.

“But if people move out of the cities it is going to be based on the services that are available.

“Not having a bank limits growth, it limits new people coming in and it creates inefficiencies.”

A CBA spokeswoman said the bank was committed to closing in Junee.

“After a recent review, we made the difficult decision to permanently close our Junee branch, which has had a 37 per cent drop in transactions over the five years before the coronavirus pandemic.”