Regional Banking Taskforce finds South West branches among 600 country banks closed in four years

Regional Australia has lost a quarter of its banks in the past four years, a trend that is no shock to South West towns at the coal face of a regional banking exodus being labelled “unconscionable” and “short-sighted”. The slew of bank closures from Waroona to Augusta were among those highlighted at the Federal Treasury’s first Regional Banking Taskforce meeting last month, which found more than 600 regional and remote branches were closed countrywide since 2017. An issues paper released in the wake of this meeting highlighted the uneven impacts of bank closures on regional and remote communities, but there is less than three weeks until the public comment on the report closes on December 18. WA Opposition Leader Mia Davies said she was working on her own submission to the task force and was encouraging as many people as possible to do the same. “The decision by banks to reduce or cut services in regional WA is unconscionable behaviour and is a failure by their management to recognise the importance of having a local presence in the communities their customers live, work and invest,” Ms Davies said. Bank closures in the region were first highlighted in a special report in the South Western Times on November 11, which revealed the extent of branch closures in the region, a trend playing out in regional communities Statewide. In the past five years banks have closed their doors in Waroona, Harvey, Australind, Bunbury, Dunsborough and Augusta and further afield in Kondinin, Wyalkatchem, Three Springs and Wagin — a trend leaving customers trekking up to 150km away to do their banking. Ms Davies said she had been contacted by business owners, Shire presidents, bank employees and individuals who were concerned about declining levels of service and support by the major banks. “Managing this business from afar, often in major cities, only widens the gap in knowledge, understanding and opportunities for those in the regions and the bank. It is an incredibly short-sighted approach,” she said. “It’s vital we take this opportunity to talk about this and how it impacts the individual, the business and the community.” Co-chaired by Federal Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar and NSW Senator Perin Davey, the issues paper by the task force outlined the decline in cash transactions and ATM use in recent years, the big banks citing these trends as the catalyst behind the spate of closures. It also highlights how the impact of closures is unevenly in regional areas and how this can affect the sustainability and longevity of a town. “Regional Australians are doing their banking online rather than visiting a branch, with 64 per cent of regional Australians doing their banking with their main financial institution online via a computer or laptop in the last month and 61 per cent via a smart phone,” the report reads. “Anecdotally, if someone is to drive 50km to do their banking, they will likely buy a coffee, do their groceries and utilise other services at their destination, thereby taking more business out of their... hometown.” Opinion: Regional bank closures don’t make sense