Regional bank boss rejects pop-up hubs as solution to branch closures
A regional bank leader says pop-up hubs don't fix the real problem: big banks closing branches while others support them.
A regional bank executive dismissed pop-up banking hubs as not enough to fix the loss of face-to-face services in rural Australia. The Australian Banking Association suggested kiosks and hubs like those in Britain and New Zealand.
The Regional Banking Investment Alliance says this doesn't solve the real problem: large banks close branches while keeping the profitable work like taking deposits and lending. They move expensive work like stopping fraud to smaller regional banks.
In a survey of rural customers, over 90 per cent identified trained staff, privacy, in-person help with scams, and community support as important needs. Kiosks cannot meet these needs.
The alliance says customer-owned banks lose more than $100 million annually supporting larger banks through what it calls 'passthrough banking'. In passthrough banking, deposits move to bigger institutions within days.
The alliance suggests a Community Service Obligation framework. It would require all banks to fund regional branches.
- Over 90 per cent
- Rural customers valuing face-to-face
- More than 100 million dollars
- Annual subsidy by regional banks
- Within days to bigger institutions
- Passthrough banking deposits timeframe
- Regional Banking Investment Alliance
- Organisation rejecting hubs
Why it mattersRegional Australians are losing access to important banking services. Smaller regional banks that remain are effectively paying for the retreat of major competitors.
AustraliaRegional Australians increasingly lack face-to-face banking support for complex tasks like fraud prevention and account setup, pushed toward online services and long phone queues.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 2 h ago
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