ISCOVER
Access to banking services in regional areas is back in the spotlight amid a wave of mass lay-offs in the banking sector.
The National Party of Australia has urged banking chiefs to keep regional services open and stop branch closures amid an ongoing campaign to maintain face-to-face services in rural and remote areas.
Shadow assistant treasurer and shadow minister for financial services Pat Conaghan confirmed he had met with major banks serving regional areas in recent weeks and claimed he had “thrown down the gauntlet” on regional banking.
On 15 August, the Nationals wrote to the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer calling for an urgent response to the Senate inquiry on regional banking.
The final report on the Senate inquiry, which was published in May last year and arose after numerous regional bank closures, focused on solutions to maintain access to banking services in rural areas.
Conaghan called for the moratorium on branch closures to be extended beyond just the majors and said: “If a community is about to lose its last branch or in-person banking point, the shutters should not come down.
“Extend the moratorium. It’s the least the Government could do while they sit on their hands about this issue.”
A levy to keep rural bank branches open was floated earlier this year by Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) CEO Matt Comyn as an option to help regional households and businesses keep access to physical banking services in their communities.
“Enough is enough on bank closures,” Conaghan said. “I’ve told the bank chiefs directly: come to the table with a credible plan to maintain face-to-face services and access to cash in the regions.
“Banks have no problem extracting profits from the regions. It’s time they reinvest – in people, in branches, in ATMs and cash services.”
Conaghan stressed that any universal banking obligation must cover more than country towns.
“This isn’t just about the bush. Outer-suburban communities are also losing branches, which means some of the most vulnerable Australians and small businesses are being left without fair access to services,” Conaghan said.
Calls to protect access to physical banking services in regional areas come after a week of mass lay-offs across the banking sector.
On Tuesday (9 September), banking giant Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ) announced it plans to axe the jobs of 3,500 employees and 1,000 contractors over the next 12 months.
A day later, National Australia Bank (NAB) announced it would make changes to its technology and enterprise operations division, including permanently cutting 410 jobs.
Similarly, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) had announced a plan to slash at least 45 customer service jobs and replace them with artificial intelligence (AI). However, as reported by The Adviser sister brand Cyber Daily, this was backtracked following significant backlash.
[Related: FSU slams major banks for job losses]
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