For the past six months, a Senate inquiry has travelled across the country to find out why more than 1,600 bank branches have shut across regional and rural Australia in the last six years. On Wednesday, the inquiry heard directly from those in charge of the closures — the bosses of Australia's "Big Four" banks: Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB and …
Janessa Bidgood runs an annual event in her rural town that makes over $500,000 and contributes hundreds of thousands of tourism dollars to the wider community. Public banking The idea of a government-owned bank was tabled during the senate inquiry into bank closures in regional Australia, and has since been backed by Liberal Party senator Gerard Rennick. "The banks, they're …
Locals in Coober Pedy are buying safes and are scared of being robbed while driving long distances to make major deposits, after the closure of the town's only bank. Key points: Coober Pedy's Westpac branch closed last week, forcing locals to travel 500km to deposit sums over $7,000 The closure of Kingston's BankSA branch is suspended while a Senate inquiry …
Westpac will postpone the planned closures of eight of its branches across regional Australia, ahead of a federal Senate inquiry into the economic and social impacts of such closures. Key points: Westpac's move to halt regional branch closure follows a similar announcement by the Commonwealth Bank earlier this week A federal MP says banks rushing to close regional branches are …