The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is reassuring local customers the bank branch at Westside Plaza will stay open until at least 2026.
The promise comes against a backdrop of major and continuing bank branch closures across regional NSW.
The latest news from CBA is an extra three years of promised banking in Broken Hill.
“We recognise the way people are banking is changing,” says CBA’s Retail Banking Services Group Executive, Angus Sullivan.
He says more customers are opting for digital and phone-based services which don’t require a bricks and mortar bank branch, but adds, “through this time of change, we want to support customers in regional areas who prefer banking in branch and so we will maintain our existing face-to-face services in these communities.”
In a five-years between June 2017 and June 2022, more than 1600 bank branches closed nationally, with a high proportion of those in regional Australia.
In February, a Senate Inquiry into Bank Closures in Regional Australia was opened by the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee, to investigate regional bank closures, their impacts, and possible solutions, with the report due to be released by December 1.
