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It was announced earlier last week that Westpac would be shutting down an additional 23 branches across the country.
The 23 closures will see staff affected in branches across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia as well as South Australia and the Northern Territory.
Westpac has now closed almost 95 branches in the past four months, citing a change in the banking behaviour and habits of customers.
“When we do make the decision to close a branch, we consider a range of factors including usage, location, and proximity to other banking services,” the spokesperson said.
“In these instances, we continue to support our customers by expanding access via digital and online banking, Bank@Post, telephone, mobile and virtual banking.”
They also mentioned that they would continue to build co-location branches which will see multiple banks under the Westpac Group use the same facility .
According to Finance Sector Union (FSU) National Secretary Julia Angrisano, this move will see about 92 jobs lost with the hardest hit areas mostly in rural and regional communities.
“We need the Federal Government to step in and stop the banks from deserting regional Australia,” she said.
“Banks can’t be trusted to do the right thing by regional communities because when considering whether to close branches, they only consider their massive profits and the bonuses of senior executives.
“They don’t care about bank staff and the communities which will be impacted by their decision to shut branch doors.”
Other banks under the Westpac Group will also see closures, including St George in Queensland, NSW, and the ACT as well as the Bank of Melbourne across parts of Victoria.
According to one staff member, who found out that their branch was going to close, said it’s a a seriously distressing time at the moment.
“The impact on the mental health of everyone working at the branch is huge and taking its toll,” the told the Union.
“We are remote, what our employment options look like is up in the air, we are all facing a very insecure future.”
