The Government has announced the establishment of a regional banking taskforce to assess the impact of bank branch closures on regional communities. It has released an Issues Paper for consultation.

The Taskforce will assess how bank branch closures have impacted local businesses, industries and communities and potential solutions for maintaining and improving banking services and accessibility where branches have been closed.

The Issues Paper says there has been a significant decline in the number of bank branches in Australia recently. The number of branches in regional and remote Australia has fallen from around 2,500 to 1,900 in the four years to June 2021 (a decline of almost a quarter) with a 5 per cent decline in branches in the past year. There have been similar declines at a national level with bank branches declining from around 5,800 to 4,500 over the past four years.

Other bank face-to-face points of presence in regional and remote Australia (such as agencies) have declined from around 2,500 to 2,400 in the past four years, with Bank@Post numbers steady at around 1,900.

The number of ATMs has also declined, with the total number of active ATMs nationally having fallen by around 20 per cent since its peak in late 2016.

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