Yahoo Finance Australian bank closes another three branches: ‘Almost solely digital’
Bankwest will close another three branches as the financial institution focuses on a move to digital.
Bankwest has closed three more branches in Australia this month.
The bank, which was acquired by Commonwealth Bank Australia (CBA) in 2008, has “no physical footprint” outside of Western Australia, but serves customers around the country.
It had already shut down its east coast branches in 2022, and this month has closed the doors to two Perth branches - in Armadale and Maddington - along with Kununurra on the border of Western Australian and the Northern Territory.
CBA chief executive and managing director Matt Comyn last year told a senate inquiry into regional bank closures that, “Strategically, Bankwest is moving into a predominantly digital and, probably over time, solely digital-only”.
Have you been unable to access cash? Contact belinda.grantgeary@yahooinc.com
CommBank opened several specialist branches last year that don’t support cash withdrawals over the counter. Comyn committed to a moratorium on regional bank closures for the next two years, but would not promise to sustain its 728 branches beyond 2026, noting running costs hit around $400 million a year.
“Despite the inconvenience, the vast majority of customers – around 95 per cent – don’t change banks after a branch closure,” Comyn said.
“While there might be a temporary reduction in customer satisfaction … these tend to recover within 12 months.”
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CBA is not the only one. Macquarie customers were told last year they wouldn’t be able to use cash or cheques in any branches as the financial institution moved to a digital-only model.
Recent figures showed Australia was fast moving away from using cash and closer towards electronic payments. The Reserve Bank (RBA) said the number of Aussies paying with cash had more than halved in the past three years from 27 per cent to just 13 per cent.
Bankwest general manager for personal banking Scott Spittles said the changes would “cause some inconvenience”, but running the branches had become “increasingly unsustainable to operate as customer banking preferences shift to digital options”.
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Ireland is in the process of introducing legislation that forces supermarkets, pharmacies and convenience stores to carry cash, and for ATMs to remain available across eight geographic regions.
Cash Welcome campaign coordinator Jason Bryce told Yahoo Finance Australia needed to implement a similar policy to Ireland.
“The people who use cash have rights and we think those rights are enshrined in law. They're not,” he said. “Australia needs to follow Ireland and ensure that people can use cash, our legal tender, to buy their food, their essential groceries and their medicines.”
But Professor of Finance at University of Technology, Sydney Harry Scheule isn’t convinced Australia needs to follow in Ireland’s footsteps just yet.
“It's not come to the point yet where you really need to have a law that forces businesses to take cash because people lose out,” he told Yahoo Finance. “I think Australia has always been a remote country and we've always made sure that the countryside is fairly well-serviced.”
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