After a steady stream of closures NAB has become the first major bank to agree to keep its branches open in drought-affected regions - with the caveat that this concession will continue "while they remain in drought".NAB's chief customer officer in its consumer banking division, Mike Baird, portrayed the decision as a result of community feedback, characterising the action as part of a "commitment to do better, and to be better, by responding to the needs of our customers."Since July, NAB senior leaders have visited regional and rural communities across Australia to hear from customers, farmers, local businesses and community organisations, the bank said in a media statement yesterday."We want to better understand and support our customers so we can once again be the bank that they trust and respect," Baird said."We have made a number of changes as a result of the feedback we have received from communities across Australia, with more to come."The national secretary of the Finance Sector Union of Australia, Julia Angrisano, congratulated NAB for its change of heart. She said averting branch closures was an important win for the union and "a small step in the right direction for a bank that has been mauled in the royal commission".   "Over the last 18 months, our figures show NAB has closed around 60 branches across Australia, many in rural areas," Angrisano said."NAB is not alone in this, and the Finance Sector Union believes banking provides an essential service to Australians, especially in regional and rural locations."This [action by NAB] comes two weeks after the NSW Opposition Leader, Luke Foley, helped secure an undertaking that the Dungog NAB branch would not be closed."In addition to reversing its decision to close the Dungog branch, NAB also canned plans for closure of its Narooma branch in regional NSW in August, "following extensive community consultation".NAB has been working on other aspects of its agribusiness relationships in recent times.In July, the bank announced that customers in regional and rural Australia would be able to receive the financial benefit of being able to offset their farm management deposit against their agricultural lending in the form of a discount to their lending interest rate (the FMD scheme allows qualifying farmers to shift current pre-tax income into later years via term deposits).NAB also announced a drought assistance package to support customers enduring prolonged drought conditions, and no longer charges a higher default interest rates for agribusiness customers affected by drought who are in hardship and behind on their repayments.Angrisano said the FSU wrote to each of the Big Four banks last month asking them to suspend any branch closures in drought affected areas.  "We also wrote to relevant State and Federal Ministers alerting them to this," she said.NAB has been the first to respond, although Angrisano acknowledged "another step in the right direction" had been taken by CBA, which has agreed to take the drought into account and "… will limit [its] review of branches during this financial year."  The other major banks are