Banks and building societies in Australia opened an additional 48 branches in the year to June 2011, while credit unions closed two branches, the annual Australian Prudential Regulation Authority census shows. There were 6762 branches of banks and other ADIs as of June 2011.For the third year in a row Australia Post scaled back the number of post offices that offer banking services. Post has 3260 outlets offering the service, down by around 40 over three years.The report, on "points of presence", is a carry-over from the era when bank branch closures were common and politicians wanted to be seen to be interested in the issue.Branch numbers have, however, increased each year since the start of this data-set, in 2003. The exception is in the small ADI (Authorised Deposit-taking Institution) sector, where consolidation is reducing the number of outlets.The number of branches will continue to climb in 2012, mostly thanks to Westpac's program of branch openings, mainly in Victoria.