The self-funded retirees who made up the bulk of the attendees at yesterday's Bendigo and Adelaide Bank annual general meeting were certainly determined to have their say.One of the shareholders asked the board whether it could lift the distribution of franking credits. BEN's chairman, Robert Johanson - who fielded most of the shareholders' questions -  replied that while these were "a store of value" it was one asset that could only be fully realised if hundred per cent of profits were paid out, and that wasn't going to happen as the bank needed to retain some of its profits to reinvest in the business."We'll do our best but have to operate within the constraints of the law," he promised.Another question from shareholders concerned the royal commission and its interactions with ASIC. The question referenced Bendigo bank over charging fees for no service, with fines and restitution set to top a further $2.5 million. "There is no mention about Bendigo bank making provision for payment like this," he said.Robert Johanson: "We have made provisions but the amounts have not been so significant that we need to make specific provisions of the other banks have needed to do." The community bank model and the Rural Bank joint venture also attracted a protective client: "Will the bank stand behind the community bank when they have no money left because people in the drought affected regions need to take money out to live?"And the same applied to the Rural Bank. "We've been around 160 years and we've had a few droughts in that time we will continue to work with our communities," Johanson said, before deciding that response might have seemed too glib, adding: "Cycles in agriculture are longer than the cycles we normally have to deal with in domestic banking, but we're used to that. "We have good early intelligence because of our involvement in those communities and we will continue to work with them. We have and will always continue to interrogate our agribusiness book to make sure we know where the stress is and which communities need help," Johanson said."And we are prepared to have early conversations with customers. It is often the case that the best conversation with customers is making them confront financial realities and do with their problems before they get too big. They are the sorts of things we know we need to do to have those good relationships."The branch closure theme proved a popular topic, as the major banks have been closing branches consistently - with National Australia Bank named specifically by a shareholder. He asked if Bendigo was moving in to areas where the majors had moved out. Johansson demurred, remaining noncommittal as to when and where Bendigo might open new branches. "If people go to a branch it's because they've got an issue that they want to talk about in private," he said."It is ironic that around the world, where banks want to move into an area, they still do so with a physical presence." He