ANZ is stepping up its program to reduce its branch footprint across Australia after confirming it will close another 19 outlets in coming months.
Details of the latest round of branch cuts were leaked to the media by the Finance Sector Union on Monday as rumours swirled through banking industry that National Australia Bank was planning to axe up to 100 branded points of presence over the next 12 months.
The ANZ decision means that will have slashed its network by more than 100 branches to 450 since January last year.
Most of the branches slated for closure in the latest round are located in metropolitan parts of Sydney and Melbourne.
ANZ’s head of retail banking Katherine Bray defended the decision, saying only 12 per cent of customers used branch services last year.
Bray estimates that the number of branch transactions has fallen by 50 per cent in the last four years.
“The biggest change we’ve seen in recent years has been the significant spike in customers choosing digital options to do everything from shopping and ordering food through to engaging with healthcare providers and doing their own banking, which is convenient and secure,” said Bray.
“Last year alone 70 per cent of our customers preferred digital banking options.
“ Even our few remaining passbook customers have been choosing to use debit cards for the first time.”
FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano described the cuts as “heartless” and accused the bank of blaming customers for ongoing effort to reduce the branch network.
“Banks are still blaming customers for branch closures, claiming falsely that the public doesn’t value branches and prefer to complete their financial transactions online,” she said.
“It is the banks which prefer to force customers online because they can reduce staff numbers, save money on wages and rents and increase profits.”
Angrisano said 105 branch staff employed at the 19 branches earmarked for closure faced unemployment, with the bank not committing to redeploy affected workers to other parts of the bank.
“Those ANZ Bank staff have told the Union they are shattered at the prospect of losing their jobs at a time of such uncertainty, with little prospect of getting more work,” Angrisano said.
“It is clear the ANZ Bank does not care about its staff or the community.”
Bray gave no guarantee that all staff employed at the 19 affected branches would be offered new roles, choosing instead to highlight the bank’s record of redeployment after the closure of 90 branches in 2020.
“Of our employees that were working in a branch that closed last year, we were able to find new roles or redeployment opportunities for nearly all of them that wanted to stay with ANZ, including at remote locations,” she said.
“These were some of our most experienced staff and we redeployed them to where our customers need them most.
“For all employees who leave, we provide access to unlimited career coaching and outplacement support as well as access to our career training fund.”
ANZ branches earmarked for scrapping in Sydney include Potts Point, Crows Nest, St Leonards and Campbelltown. The bank will exit