‘Aggressive’ banking cuts leave towns without ‘essential’ service

Finance Sector Union acting Victoria secretary Bill Karambatsos said NAB had decided to close seven branches across regional areas including Culcairn, Lockhart and Euroa. 

The move would leave Culcairn as a one bank town, without any of the big four. 

Mr Karambatsos said despite reporting $6.64 billion in profits, NAB had closed more than 50 branches in the last 18 months, mostly in regional communities. 

“Each time a branch closes, if it’s a tiny branch there might be one job loss, if it’s bigger two to four, more if staff are part-time,” Mr Karambatsos said.

“We know small towns are struggling and there is a real impact when you remove an essential service from the community.

“Once you see institutions like post offices or banks closing, the township fades away in our experience.”

ANZ has confirmed the closure of branches at Temora, Forbes and Narromine. 

However a NAB spokesman said the bank had not confirmed closures. 

“The way customers use our services has changed dramatically over time,” he said

“Between 80 per cent and 90 per cent of customers who do their banking at Culcairn, Grenfell, Ardlethan, Lockhart and Barham visit other NAB branches in the area. 

“Branches will play an important role in banking for many years to come, but with customers changing how they are banking, we are proposing changes to NAB’s services in Riverina and the surrounding areas. 

“If we make any changes, we’ll talk to our people first, and let our customers know.”

Mr Karambatsos said it was only a matter of time until more regional branches were cut.

“Banks say that customer demand is forcing their hand but they have been actively pushing customers digitally for some time,” Mr Karambatsos said.