The National Australia Bank’s executive of retail banking, Krissie Jones, said local mayors were informed of decisions to close branches at the same time that customer letters were sent out, but that they weren’t involved in the decision-making.

Jones said only 3 per cent of its customers solely relied on its branch network for banking in 2022.

‘Many of our customers are going to other locations to do their grocery shopping or to see the doctor.’

Krissie Jones, NAB

When asked about the need for customers in regions affected by branch closures to travel to another town for in-person banking services, Jones said that many were already doing so for other errands.

“Many of our customers are going to other locations to do their grocery shopping or to see the doctor,” she said.

In a media release on Thursday, the Finance Sector Union said it condemned NAB for “its failure to join major competitors and ‘pause’ the continuing closure of regional bank branches while the Senate rural and regional affairs committee inquires into bank branch closures.”

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Commonwealth Bank, ANZ and Westpac have paused some closures while the inquiry is under way.

The union also slammed NAB and Westpac for not adequately consulting communities before closing their branches.

“While NAB instigated a branch closure impact statement, it was essentially a desktop ‘tick and flick’ operation in head office instead of a serious analysis of the impact of closures on the community,” the union said.

Jones and Miller pointed to their banks’ partnerships with Australia Post, which enable them to offer their over-the-counter banking services through participating post offices.

But FSU’s Queensland local executive secretary Wendy Streets said services available through post offices were limited. “Anything more complex than simple deposit or withdrawal services are unavailable at Australia Post,” she said.

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The union also said transactions such as deceased estates, or transactions associated with circumstances of domestic violence, and issuing of bank cheques couldn’t be handled at the post office.

Streets said bank closures in regional areas would disproportionately affect small business owners, people lacking internet coverage in remote areas, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander customers who “already face enormous challenges in accessing banking services”.

Both Westpac and NAB were questioned about how the bank closures affected its staff in regional areas.

“We consult with staff right at the beginning of the process,” Miller said. “If we look at the cohort from regional areas, we’ve been able to successfully redeploy 48 per cent of them.”

Jones said NAB offered all employees affected by branch closures alternate roles with the bank, and that the lender had retained 97 per cent of its staff.

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