“Residents on Bribie Island in Queensland’s Moreton Bay are pushing back against NAB’s claim that patronage has declined at the Bongaree branch, as it prepares for closure this Thursday.
NAB claims that in-person visits have dropped by 56 per cent at the branch over the past year. However, this claim has been met with scepticism from locals, as a photo surfaced on a community page this week showing a queue of mainly elderly customers waiting for service at the branch.
‘This is the NAB branch that closes this week as it’s under-utilised, a woman ironically captioned the photo. Another local added: ‘Every single time I’ve gone in there over the years and there is always a long queue.’ A third declared: ‘The last time I went in I was lined up for almost 30 mins.’ ‘The banks are pushing for a cashless society so they can reduce their staff numbers and increase their profit margins. It’s not rocket science,’ a fourth claimed.
Customers who prefer face-to-face banking will need to go to the local post office or visit the nearest branch in Morayfield 26km away.”
– Daily Mail UK
The banks are now just lying to justify their gouging . Its disgraceful.
They earn very high margins on low interest deposit accounts that would have 10’s of billions of dollars in them, making millions on relending at 6%.
It’s not just at NAB on Bribie Island where there are queues. My local CBA branch nearly always has a queue.
Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee – 1/12/2023
Bank closures in regional Australia
Senator RENNICK: What do you make of the statement by Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn? He said that the cost of dealing in cash was about $400 million a year—fair enough, that’s a cost, but he seemed to ignore the fact that the Commonwealth Bank, in particular, has millions of deposit accounts, which have a combined value of billions of dollars, and it then lends at a much higher margin. Why aren’t the banks being honest about what the true cost of business is? The way that was presented, right in this very room, was that having to provide the regions with cash was a cost to the bank, yet I would argue that the accounts held by the people who want the cash are a very profitable source of revenue, or profit, for the banks themselves. Do you agree that the banks should be providing cash?
Mr Preston : There’s a bit to that. In terms of access to cash, I might pass to my colleague Mr Baird.
Mr Baird : I won’t talk to Mr Comyn’s comments, but the government position on access to cash is very clear. They’re committed to maintaining ongoing access to cash for Australian citizens when and where they need it. That was outlined in the payments strategic plan that the government released in June of this year.
