Bendigo Bank to close 10 branches in Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania
Regional areas in Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania will be impacted the most, with branches closing from August 1.
Locations include Bannockburn and Korumburra in Victoria, Malanda in Queensland and Queenstown in Tasmania.
Bendigo Bank said the decision was made following 'a review of evolving customer preferences, a reduction in business activity and an increase in costs'.
Closing branches was a last resort, chief executive officer and managing director Richard Fennell said.
'Bendigo Bank has more branches per customer than any other Australian bank. We operate the second-largest regional branch network and the third-largest branch network nationally,' he said.
'To preserve what makes our bank unique, we must balance our physical network presence with the need to continue investing in the changing preferences of our 2.7 million customers.'
Bendigo Bank says it's 'exploring opportunities' to redeploy staff working at the affected branches.
Finance Sector Union National Secretary Julia Angrisano said the closures were a slap in the face for people in regional communities, especially in areas where there are now no other bank branches.
'Three Victorian communities — Bannockburn, Korumburra Yarram, along with Malanda in Queensland, and Queenstown in Tasmania will lose the last of their local bank branches. Also impacted are regional branches in Kings Meadows (Launceston, Tasmania) and Tully (in Northern Queensland),' Angrisano said.
'This is an incredibly disturbing development and does not bode well for the future of Bendigo Bank's presence in regional Australia.
'For a bank which proudly has its regional centre hometown as part of its name, and is fondly known for its community branch network, this decision feels very 'big bank' for all the wrong reasons.'
The Finance Sector Union has written to Fennell as well as local MPs of the impacted regional communities, in a bid to save the branches.
'The Finance Sector Union has also raised the issue of consumer and worker regulation of banking with new Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Daniel Mullino MP,' Angrisano said.
'It is critical that the federal government step in and protect bank workers and customers given the banks have proven themselves to be incapable of doing anything other than putting profits and shareholders first.'
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