THE demise of suburban bank branches is continuing with the Rosebud branch of the ANZ shutting its doors on 18 March 2021.
The bank’s general manager for Victoria Michael Wake reeled off what have now become standard responses to bank branch closures (“ANZ withdraws from Mount Eliza” The News 28/9/20).
“Every year we see 10 per cent less transactions at our branches because our customers no longer use them for everyday banking like they used to,” he said.
“While branch activity has declined, we’ve seen a spike in demand for many of our non-branch roles, such as customer contact centres and the operations team which manages hardship and other inquiries.
“The majority of our customers now prefer the convenience of doing their banking when it suits them. Our apps and call centres are convenient and we’ve also seen a number of passbook customers opting for debit cards recently to expand their banking options.”
Mr Wake said the bank had written to customers to let them know about alternative banking methods, including online, telephone and mobile banking.
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 13 October 2020
