Petition calling to keep agency open
Acommunity-led
petition is calling on the Bendigo Bank to reconsider its decision to close an agency at Stawell.
Geraldine Ryan has been gathering signatures calling to keep open an agency based at Fosters Mensland in Main Street.
The agency is due to close on June 28 with the bank citing changing customer habits as the reason for the move.
It will leave Stawell, a town with a population of 8500 people as per the 2021 Census, with just one bank – a Commonwealth Bank branch.
Ms Ryan said Stawell residents were largely unaware the agency was closing.
“Stawell is not a small town, it is a medium size, and it needs more than one bank,” she said.
“I’m really sad that places like the Bendigo Bank are no longer serving the people – they have forgotten the people.
“We have all these mental health challenges. You need face-to-face as much as you can.
“Lots of people joined the bank because it said it would look after country towns and people.”
Fosters Mensland manager David Kaczynski said the store had hosted the Bendigo Bank agency for 15 years.
The operation of his store is separate to the agency arrangement and will continue beyond June 28.
“I’m disappointed the Bendigo Bank is shutting our agency and would like them to reconsider their decision,” Mr Kaczynski said.
“We have a lot of customers who rely on us and like to come in for the face-to-face service we provide – and they’re all disappointed it is closing.
“It has been a very good partnership. We have a lot of new business. It attracts a lot more people into the shop when they do their banking, and it works both ways.”
An agency differs from a branch.
A Bendigo and Adelaide Bank spokesperson told The Weekly Advertiser last month that agencies were considered independent businesses and staff were independently employed.
After further contact this week, the spokesperson said a host business must have an agency agreement with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank in order to operate the agency.
“Agency agreements end for a variety of reasons, such as the sale or closure of the business, retirement of the principals, for health-related reasons, difficulty attracting and retaining staff, a drop off in transactions or for commercial reasons at the direction of the bank,” the spokesperson said.
“Bendigo Bank’s agency model was established to supply limited banking services via third parties in areas where there was not enough demand to sustain a branch.
“As the number and value of over-the-counter transactions has fallen and more customers choose to do their banking online, the model has come under increasing pressure and can no longer be supported.”
The spokesperson recommended people engage Bank@post services at Stawell Post Office, which includes withdrawal and deposit facilities.
Northern Grampians Shire Council had also raised its concerns about the closure with bank officials.
Mayor Kevin Erwin said, at the time of the closure announcement, he had been inundated with calls from concerned residents who felt it was a ‘smack in the face’.
The bank’s spokesperson said the bank had invited the council to an in-person briefing, at a convenient time, on the reasons it decided to close the Stawell agency and the council had accepted the offer.