Australian Bank Closes 45 Branches to Become Digital Only

New money at the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra, Australia on April 22, 2005 Mark Nolan/Getty Images

Bankwest will become a digital-only bank, closing 45 branches in Western Australia and transitioning 15 to Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) branches.

The bank is planning to convert to a digital bank completely by October 2024, closing or converting all the remaining bank branches it operates in Australia.

Explaining the change, the bank claimed 97 percent of transactions are now completed digitally and only two percent of customers visit a branch.

Bankwest closed the Subiaco branch in Perth after 60 years of service in July 2023, and a further three Perth metro branches in late 2023.

In 2022, the bank closed all 14 branches on the east coast of Australia and reduced opening hours at regional branches in Western Australia (WA).

The bank claimed its Western Australian branches now average just 30 over-the-counter transactions each day and 15 in regional WA.

Bankwest executive general manager, Jason Chan, said the change would be “challenging” for some customers.

“I understand this will be difficult news for some of our customers and Bankwest is introducing a range of support measures to help our customers who are regular branch users carefully through this transition,” Mr. Chan said.

“It’s critical we prioritise investment for the majority of our customers who expect leading digital and broker banking services, and rarely use branches, but we have a clear focus on the needs of our regular branch users at this time.”

Bankwest is a subsidiary of the Australian Big Four’s Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), which trades on the Australian Stock Exchange.

A BankWest sign hangs outside its Elizabeth Street branch in Melbourne, Australia on Oct. 8, 2008. William West/AFP via Getty Images

Regional towns impacted by the closures in Western Australia include Bunbury, Albany, Kalgoorlie, Katanning, Busselton, Manjimup, Margaret River, Katanning, Esperance, Merredin, Moora, Narrogin, Northam, Geraldton, Broome, Karratha, Kununurra, and Port Hedland.

Finance Sector Union Calls the Move ‘Outrageous’

Finance Sector Union national assistant secretary, Jason Hall, said the move would disadvantage Bankwest customers who prefer to use a branch.

“This is an outrageous decision by Bankwest which has completely abandoned its customer base in order to cut costs and become a digital bank,” Mr. Hall said.

“A range of Bankwest customers will be badly affected including the most vulnerable in our community.”

Mr. Hall said the worst impacted customers would be the elderly, Indigenous, those who speak English as a second language, and customers who are not computer literate.

“Maintaining a branch network costs money. But surely keeping faith with a loyal customer base is an important principle when those same customers and the banking fees they pay, have been at the core of Bankwest’s profitability for many years.

“This decision will be bad for banking in WA. It will be bad for business as a large network of branches disappears and it will be bad for our members who stand to lose their jobs.”

Staff Offered New Roles with CBA

Bankwest said a new career opportunity will be offered to every staff member impacted by the branch closures.

Five hundred CBA jobs in technology, operations, and customer service will be directed to WA to support the digital transition.

“Our branch colleagues have invaluable knowledge and experience, and they will all be offered opportunities to access the next generation of banking jobs so they can continue to support customers nationwide from in their own communities,” Mr. Chan said.

However, the FSU’s Mr. Hall raised concerns the staff might lose the opportunity to work with customers in person.

“Our members who work in retail didn’t join the bank to work in a call centre,” he said. “They prefer to work with customers face to face and this is being taken away from them.”

Cashless Trend Rolls On

Australian banks closed 424 branches and 718 automatic teller machines (ATM) during the 2023 financial year.

Significantly, 122 of these closed branches were in regional and remote areas, highlighting a growing trend in Australia.

“This continues a trend that has seen branch numbers decline by 34 percent in regional and remote areas, and 37 percent overall, since the end of June 2017,” the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority said on Oct. 18.

Cash Welcome campaign spokesperson Jason Bryce raised concerns at the time saying there was no incentive for big financial institutions to be part of the cash system.

“This is a really big problem that the politicians really have to face up to because, at the heart of the cash distribution system, the key institution is not making money and doesn’t really want to be part of it,” he said.

“This whole cashless society thing is not something that is consumer-led. They are trying to herd us away from what is essentially a publicly owned piece of economic infrastructure—the cash that is issued by the Reserve Bank of Australia—and onto digital cashless payment systems which all charge fees and collect our information.”

Australia Post Picking Up the Slack

Australia Post CEO Paul Graham told a Senate Estimates hearing in November that bank closures were putting pressure on post offices in regional areas.

“Customers are looking for a broader scope of services. Small businesses particularly feel that they’re not able to access what they would traditionally access through their banking branches. And the provision of cash has become an issue,” Mr. Graham said.

“Whilst a lot of people say cash is going to die, we certainly don’t see that, particularly in certain demographics, and also in certain neighbourhoods where cash is still prevalent.”

In February, Australia Post revealed it was spending $4,000 per week to send cash to the underground town of Coober Pedy in South Australia.