No community bank option: Cr Sharkey

THE closure of Bendigo Bank’s Bannockburn branch in September is unlikely to be prevented, with an attempt to gauge interest in a community bank alternative failing to gain traction.

Golden Plains Shire mayor Cr Owen Sharkey said the council’s economic development team had approached the bank after the closure was announced to inquire about the possibility of the branch being set up as a community bank.

“That has been ruled out by the Bendigo Bank…at this stage, but it’s something that they [indicated they] would look at into the future,” Cr Sharkey said.

“It didn’t sound very promising at all.”

Bendigo Bank already runs community banks, with branches in Buninyong and Winchelsea part of that network.

Community banks are run on a ‘profit-with-purpose’ model, which means that profits are returned directly to the community that has generated them.

But Cr Sharkey said the bank had indicated that a community bank would have to be commercially viable and residents would have to commit to doing their banking with it, rather than through it. “That was the response that came back,” he said.

“You just wish that those conversations could have been had six months ago.”

Residents have been vocal about the closure, with some indicating concern about older people – many of whom do not drive – being forced to do in-person banking at the bank’s Geelong West or Corio branches.

The Finance Sector Union has joined the widespread condemnation of the closure, which is one of 10 in Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania starting on 1 August and continuing until 31 October.

The Ballarat Central branch in Doveton Street will be the last branch to close.

The union says the Bannockburn branch has four equivalent full-time staff and the Ballarat Central branch 6.9.

It has written to bank CEO Richard Fennell as well as local MPs and the relevant federal minister seeking a reversal of the decision.

“To close 10 branches, five in regional communities with no other bank branch, is a slap in the face from a bank which most Australians know as the largest regionally based bank and a supporter of regional communities,” said the union’s national secretary, Julia Angrisano.

“While 32 full-time equivalent roles are impacted, many more individuals are at risk due to the number of part-time staff engaged in these branches.”

Ms Angrisano described the closures as “an incredibly disturbing development” which did not bode well for the future of Bendigo Bank’s presence in regional Australia.

“For a bank which proudly has its regional centre home town as part of its name, and is fondly known for its community branch network, this decision feels very ‘big bank’ for all the wrong reasons,” she said.