The executive team at one of Australia’s largest banks, ANZ, have recently come under fire for not having any processes in place to consult affected communities before deciding to shut down branches in small towns. Michael Wake, General Manager at ANZ, and Tony Tapsall, a director, recently fronted a parliamentary inquiry into regional bank closures on Thursday where they were questioned about the bank’s decision to close 56 regional branches over the past two years.
The inquiry heard that no consultation had occurred with any of the affected communities before the decision to close the branches was made. This has raised a number of questions around the impact of these closures on the local economies. It is not just the jobs lost in the area that are at stake, but also the lack of access to banking services that can have a huge impact on the community.
At the public hearing in Ingham, a regional Queensland town, Mr Wake admitted that ANZ had not consulted with the inhabitants of towns in which the bank was planning to close a branch.
Mr Wake said, a day after ANZ shut down four branches in regional Victoria and rural NSW, the closure of some branches was unavoidable due to a drastic drop in the number of customers using in-person services when fronting the inquiry.
Since September of last year, the inquiry – which had already heard evidence about a lack of community consultation from banks – is responding to the news of the closure of more than 90 branches in regional and remote areas of Australia.