National Australia Bank has announced the closure of almost 30 regional branches since a parliamentary inquiry into regional bank closures began in March.
NAB is the only one of Australia’s big four banks not to pause the closure of regional banks while the inquiry is under way.
For example, the Commonwealth Bank has announced it will not close any more regional bank branches until 2026. Smaller player the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has also announced a pause.
In contrast, NAB has closed or announced the closure of 29 regional branches and 14 branches in metropolitan areas since 1 March, leaving regional communities such as Kyogle and Woolgoolga in New South Wales, and Inglewood and Mitchell in Queensland with limited banking options.
The bank said the branches were closed because an increasing number of customers were choosing to do their banking online or over the phone, with only a small percentage of customers relying on in-person banking.
But a separate parliamentary committee heard that NAB’s data about in-person banking only counted interactions that included a transaction; branch visits for advice or other assistance were not included.
The group executive of personal banking at NAB, Rachel Slade, told a hearing of the parliamentary standing committee on economics last month it was “very hard to measure non-transactional activity”.
In a statement to Guardian Australia, NAB’s executive general manager for retail Krissie Jones, said the decision to close a branch was “never easy” but was based on changing customer behaviour, including “the reality that less people rely on branches for their banking”.
Jones said NAB customers could use Australia Post’s Bank@Post service at 3,400 locations, including 1,100 in regional areas where there was no local branch.
The bank said measuring transactions was the most useful way to track how often customers used in-person services at a bank branch and suggested that counting the total number of people who visited a branch might be misleading, for example, a parent entering a branch accompanied by their children.
The bank said also fewer people were using cheques or handling cash. NAB chief executive Ross McEwan told the standing committee 93% of transactions that physically occurred at a bank branch were digital, and 99% of all flows through banks were “of a digital nature, including payments, so [the change in behaviour has] been quite dramatic”.
The national secretary of the Finance Sector Union, Julia Angrisano, said the union was concerned the information and data NAB was relying on when closing a branch ignored the vital and essential services provided by bank workers.
“They have been using data to justify a closure that reflects only over-the-counter transactions, ignoring all the other essential services performed by bank staff,” said Angrisano.
That included deceased estates, assisting customers who were experiencing elder financial abuse or supporting customers who were experiencing family and domestic violence or who have been victims of fraud and other online scams, she said.
“These are sensitive issues and bank workers are helping their customers across all aspects of their banking needs, not just those that are counted as over-the-counter transactions.”
The senate inquiry into bank closures in regional Australia has received more than 550 submissions. Three public hearings took place in May in Sale in Victoria and in Ingham and Cloncurry in Queensland, and two more are scheduled for August in Carnamah and Beverley in Western Australia.
Emily Middleton is a journalist in Gilgandra, New South Wales
