A major Australian bank has announced it will close more branches, just months after its boss revealed it was pursuing an “almost exclusively digital” future.
Bankwest, which serves 1.1 million customers across the country, recently announced the closure of three stores in Western Australia, citing a “rise in the number of digital transactions and the rapid decline in demand for cash services”.
The bank, which has been owned by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) since 2008, sparked outrage in 2022 when it closed all 14 of its east coast branches.
Its only physical presence is now in Western Australia.
But even that is shrinking after it closed its Armadale branch in Perth’s south-east on January 18.
Bankwest, which serves 1.1 million customers across Australia, recently announced the closure of three stores in Western Australia, citing a “rise in digital transactions and the rapid decline in demand for cash services”.
CBA CEO Scott Comyn, who is ultimately responsible for Westbank, hinted at a Senate inquiry last September that the subsidiary bank planned to further reduce its already declining branch count and pursue an “almost exclusively digital” future.
In recent days the bank has announced the permanent closure of two more branches: Maddington in Perth’s south-east and Kununurra in WA’s far north, 45km from the Northern Territory border.
In August last year, Bankwest announced it would close branches in Baldivis, South Perth and Osborne Park, following the closure of Subicao the month before.
That same month, Bankwest general manager of personal banking Scott Spittles told a Senate inquiry into bank closures in regional Australia that they “expect to operate fewer Bankwest branches in the future.”
“Bankwest’s strategy is to grow as a digital and broker-first bank for homebuyers,” Mr Spittles added.
Mr Spittles claimed that over-the-counter transactions have declined by around 44 percent over the past three years, while digital payments now make up 97 percent of all transactions.
Bankwest did not respond to further requests for comment on whether it planned to close more branches.
CBA has promised not to close any more branches until 2026.
However, Bankwest has not made the same commitment.
When CBA CEO Scott Comyn, who is ultimately responsible for Westbank, was questioned about this during the Senate inquiry in September, he hinted that the subsidiary bank was planning to further reduce its already declining number of branches.
“Strategically, Bankwest is moving towards being predominantly and likely over time almost exclusively digital,” Mr Comyn told the inquiry.
Mr Comyn admitted: ‘For those who value and desire face-to-face and branch services, these will become scarcer for Bankwest customers over time.’
He also revealed that the cost of providing cash to CBA customers was $400 million a year – or $40 a year for its 10 million customers.
In February 2022, Bankwest announced it would no longer be offering new business accounts.
Bankwest’s only physical presence is in Western Australia, but even that is declining
Instead, new and existing customers would be redirected and transferred to CommBank.
Last week a Westbank customer was left ‘absolutely baffled’ after being told he could not withdraw money from a national branch.
Western Australian man Graeme Reid and his wife, who live in Latham, a rural town about 300km northeast of Perth, last week embarked on a 130km round trip to their nearest Bankwest branch in Dalwallinu to withdraw $300 to take.
But Mr Reid’s wife was told she could not withdraw the money and was told to go to the post office instead.
“I said, “If you can’t get money from a bank, you might as well close,” and she (the cashier) said, “We haven’t been told we’re closing, but I think we are. ” It won’t be long before that happens, that’s what the banks are doing now,” Mr Reid said ABC NEWS‘.