WITH National Australia Bank last week closing its doors at Springwood, a Senate inquiry is set to launch into regional bank closures.
Over the last two years, Logan has seen the closure of the Commonwealth branch at Logan Central Plaza, Westpac at Loganholme, NAB and ANZ at Beenleigh and Heritage at Woodridge.
Local business leaders have been critical, including Beenleigh Yatala Chamber of Commerce president Kerrie Saverin who last October called for government action.
Closures have seen a wave of support for next-tier banks such as Bendigo Bank and Bank of Queensland.
The pending inquiry will be held by the Senate Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs, and has been welcomed by the Finance Sector Union.
“Unlike the Coalition Regional Bank Closure Taskforce that was held in 2021 we hope that this inquiry will take its time to examine in detail the plethora of issues that arise from the closure of bank branches,” union secretary Julia Angrisano said.
“Banks are shutting branches across Australia leaving consumers and businesses without access to financial services.
“It is clear that cutting the branch network is being done to reduce costs and maintain profits.
“The Coalitions taskforce was a complete waste of time and money and was dominated and run by the banks.
“We had this farcical situation where the banks were overseeing an inquiry into themselves and consequently a range of important voices, including the FSU, were excluded from that process. This cannot happen again if this inquiry is to have any substance and impact.”
Ms Angrisano said regional communities were doing it tough without access to banking services.
