A CUSTOMER-owned financial institution will withdraw face-to-face services in Moulamein from the end of June.
BankWAW last week announced the “difficult” decision, citing declining transactions and increased online banking as reasons for the closure at the Moulamein Business Centre.
BankWAW has 13 service centres in north-east Victoria and southern New South Wales, serving more than 25,000 customers.
It has 130 customers from the Moulamein district.
“After the careful consideration of a number of factors we have made the difficult decision to close our Moulamein agency,” the bank said in a communication flyer to customers.
“This agency will close from 1pm on Thursday, June 26.”
The bank said it would send extra staff to Moulamein to answer customers’ questions.
“They will be available to help you set up your internet banking or mobile banking app,” it said in a statement.
“And we can also perform a health check on your account to ensure you have the right products for your banking needs and are getting the most from the online tools that we have available.
“As a customer owned bank, we are often one of the last financial institutions in a community so the decision to close is a difficult one.
“Before the decision was made, we took a number of factors into consideration.
“Over time, we have seen a change in the way people bank with us, a decline in over-the-counter transactions and a significant reduction in the level of business connected to the agency.
“That, along with current regulatory and compliance requirements, including our Australian Financial Services Licence means that it is no longer feasible for BankWAW to deliver banking services via an agency partnership in Moulamein.”
There were 92 personal banking customers and 38 business or club banking customers reported in January to December last year.
Only half of those customers transacted in the agency in the calendar year, 22 customers transacted less than once per month and three per week.
Moulamein Racing Club secretary Katarni Lipp said many in the town were still processing what it meant for their banking.
“We’re just already sort of talking about what that means for the community, and predominantly the businesses and community groups that use BankWAW,” she told The Guardian.
“A lot of businesses and community groups use this bank predominantly for that cash handling aspect.
“We’ve only got a once a year racing event, but all of our bank accounts are held with them, so our term deposits and our regular trading account.
“But in preparation for the races, we have to withdraw quite a large sum for our float and then redeposit what we’ve made on the day, which is a large amount.
“You know, we do have a banking facility with the post office in town, but they can only accept a $6000 cash deposit at one time.
“If you’re talking about your larger businesses or larger community events, it’s actually making it quite difficult to safely deposit that cash without having to go to another town.
“You’re relying on a volunteer committee member for most of those transactions.
“It just feels like another service pulled away from a town that’s done such a brilliant job of fighting for the things that you need that make a self-sufficient town.”
Murray River Council Mayor Cr John Harvie said the council was committed to working with BankWAW as they support Moulamein customers to transition to alternative banking arrangements.
“Council acknowledges this may present some challenges for the community,” he said.
“BankWAW will provide extensive support to customers until the end of June, so I would encourage customers to make use of this support to help them find alternative banking services.”
Last month, the big four banks agreed to keep their regional branches open until at least 2027, under a new deal struck with the Federal Government.
About 36 per cent of bank branches in regional Australia have closed since 2017, according to the government, leaving many communities without a physical location to withdraw cash or open an account.
It means no additional regional branches will close their doors until at least July 2027.
Treasurer, Jim Chalmers acknowledged that digital banking was increasingly the way forward but added that the government also wanted to ensure face-to-face services remained available to people in the bush who needed them.
“We know that if we want a strong national economy, then regional Australia needs to be a big part of the story, and that means making sure that banking services are available to the businesses and workers and people and communities of regional Australia,” he said in February.
BankWAW has organised a customer support meeting on Monday, April 7 at 5pm.
The venue is still to be confirmed.
