Big banks close the door on 32 branches

Lockdown had hastened shift to online only banking

New Zealand’s big banks have cut branch numbers in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown and many remaining branches are still on reduced hours, frustrating some customers who now have only a brief chance to do their banking in person.

Figures supplied to the Herald show that among them, the ANZ, ASB, BNZ and Westpac have permanently closed 32 branches since March 26, when the country went into strict level 4 lockdown.

The four major banks now have 548 branches.

And despite New Zealand moving to alert level 1, some branches are still open for only two or three days a week, or for limited hours.

Banks say the closures are the result of fewer people using branches and more doing their banking online.

David Tripe, Massey University’s head of banking, said lockdown had hastened the decline of bank branches.

“I said a number of years ago, by 2035 we would be down to 50 branches per bank and it may happen sooner now,” said Tripe.

Lockdown had shown the banks that people could cope without branches being open all the time, he said, and customers had switched to phone or internet banking.

Tripe said many of the other services banks provided — like giving change to small businesses — could be done by others.

Some retailers have previously complained that bank closures made it hard for them to bank their takings.

Tripe said most shops wouldn’t have much cash to bank, as more and more transactions were made electronically.

But Jessica Wilson, head of research at Consumer New Zealand, said many people still relied on going into a branch.

“It is a cause for frustration when customers find reduced hours, branches closing, particularly for people in rural areas.” Wilson said there were still people who weren’t comfortable banking online.

“They still want to be able to access branch services when they need them.”

Wilson said although the latest closures were in city centres, they could have a significant impact on customers who had to travel further to access their bank. “For some customers, if they are going to have to be travelling the extra distance, it may be they have to rely on public transport, it can be really frustrating.”

Wilson said closing branches meant the banks would be saving money and they should be putting that into supporting customers who may not be familiar with online banking, making those services more accessible.

“And where they are charging fees for those services, they need to look at reducing them or getting rid of them entirely.”

ANZ NZ managing director retail and business banking, Ben Kelleher, said since March 26 it had made the difficult decision to close some urban branches.

Four of the nine branches were in Auckland. The others were the Lambton Quay branch in Wellington, Mt Maunganui, two in Christchurch and one in Hamilton East. It was also in consultation over whether to close its Otago University branch.

“In the majority of cases, where a branch is closing, another ANZ branch is nearby (some as close as 100m but most within 5km) and we have an extensive network of mobile mortgage managers who visit customers where and when it suits them.”

Kelleher said customers had been steadily moving their banking online and

Covid-19 had dramatically hastened that process.

“As customers were advised to stay home, many of those who had not already done so began banking online. We have seen over-the-counter branch transactions drop 30 per cent from pre-Covid levels and the numbers show no sign of returning to previous levels.”

Kelleher said ANZ now had 1.54 million customers who regularly did their banking on the internet and such was the demand that many branch staff had been redeployed to help customers using newer ways of banking, and to assist those suffering financial hardship.

No staff had lost their jobs as a result of the branch closures.

The bank currently had 54 branches on reduced hours. “We will let our customers know if and when there are any permanent changes to branch hours and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.”

A BNZ spokesman said it consulted staff in May on some changes across its metro branch network and seven branches did not re-open after lockdown ended: two in Christchurch, four in Auckland and one in Wellington.

“We continually review the footprint of our branch network to best meet the needs of our customers, and these branches had seen significant declining usage as digital or other nearby branches within a 10 minute drive were used instead. Affected staff were offered roles in other parts of the business.”

Its Matamata branch remained shut due to issues with the building’s earthquake rating, discovered during lockdown, and it was looking for a new location.

The spokesman said it had reopened all its branches as usual when alert level 2 began.

A spokesman for Westpac said it had decided to close seven staffed locations since March 26: two each in Auckland and Canterbury and one each in Wellington, Tauranga and Invercargill.

“We have closed one of these branches because the building does not meet our earthquake standards. The other changes are due to an increasing number of Westpac customers choosing to do their banking on their computer or mobile device.” He said two of the sites would remain open as “smart stations”, open 24 hours a day with smart ATMs and cash exchange facilities.

“We are consulting with our team at an additional location about a proposed closure but no decisions have been made. There have been no redundancies as a result of any of these changes.”

Westpac’s Auckland Airport branch remains shut while the rest of its 143 branches are on reduced hours and days. Ten branches are open just two days a week and 50 open for three days a week.

“We have noticed a change in the way our customers are banking since coming out of lockdown, with many people preferring to bank remotely.”

ASB also announced this week that it was not reopening nine branches and a further 25 would open three days a week.