Midst the rise of Regional bank closures, Westpac is reassuring its regional and rural customers that they are going nowhere!
Westpac’s Chief Executive Consumer Banking, Jason Yetton, says Westpac promises no regional branch closures until at least 2027 while strengthening regional banking services.
21 branches across regional Victoria will keep their doors open, including Bendigo’s Mitchell St branch.
Westpac will continue its partnership with Australia Post, which provides cash services to 1,800 communities in rural and regional areas.
“We’re investing more than $200 million over 10 years in our partnership with Australia Post. This allows customers to perform the majority of cash and cheque transactions at a Bank@Post,” Yetton says.
“Bank@Post remains an important part of how we deliver banking services to regional areas, so we’re continuing to work with Australia Post to bolster these services for customers and small businesses.”
Westpac will also continue its co-location program, which brings two brands and customer service teams together under one roof. These co-located branches allow Westpac to invest and stay in communities.
“Our co-locations have been well received by customers in 100 locations nationally, including 39 in regional areas such as Dubbo, Toowoomba and Port Augusta. We are continuing to look for opportunities to deliver an additional 40 co-locations across Australia, bringing the total number of co-located branches to 140 by 2027,” Yetton says.
“Our customers also have the choice and convenience of visiting any of our branches to make cash transactions, regardless of whether they bank with Westpac, St. George, BankSA, or Bank of Melbourne. This means customers can visit the closest branch to where they live or work. Over 115,000 customers have benefited from this technology since it was rolled out in September 2023.”
