After seeing 200 Commonwealth Bank of Australia branch closures, the major bank has extended their pause on further branch closures in regional Australia, but the gloomy insight into the future of banking in regional communities remains. 

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has extended their moratorium on branch closures in regional Australia until the end of 2026, but they may not look like what we once knew. 

With closures off the table, in a statement CBA indicated that we can expect to see more communities moving towards ‘multi-channel branches’, where local face-to-face access closes at 1pm, with staff - and customers - diverted to online and phone services each afternoon. 

While the extension makes no promise of what and where a local branch may be after 2026, it will offer more time for the community to adapt to alternatives away from the already dwindled services.

“We look forward to working closely with regional communities over the next three years to refine how we better support and familiarise them with all the CBA banking services available,” Retail Banking Services Group Executive Mr Sullivan said.

According to the Finance Sector Union (FSU), the model where local staff turn their attention to Australian-based contact centres after 1pm has left CBA staff busier than ever. 

“Staff are dealing with increasing workloads in all branches, departments and call centres are seriously understaffed,” FSU National Secretary Julia Andrisano said.

“We know that 53 per cent of CBA staff are thinking of moving on and finding better paying jobs,” she said. 

As the Senate Inquiry into regional bank closures continues in the background, a change in the trend of increasing closures is looking less and less realistic. 

In a submission to the inquiry, Bourke Shire Council Mayor Barry Holman said that the reduced capacity that towns have become familiar with still isn’t enough. 

“For the foreseeable future, there is still a need for a five day a week, office hours banking service to meet the needs of the Bourke community,” Cr Holman said. 

“The situation in Bourke is such that the need for businesses to unnecessarily carry large sums of cash creates, unfortunately, the likelihood of break, enter and steals,” he said. 

Bourke Shire Mayor Barry Holman. IMAGE: ABC

While local communities hold out hope for the inquiry to offer a reprieve from the reduced services, it follows a heavily criticised Regional Banking Taskforce that left a lot to be desired for stakeholders in its final report. 

Rather than encouraging banks to leave branches to remain, the taskforce instead recommended the promotion of alternative services such as Bank@Post, and stronger engagement between banks and local councils when considering branch closures. 

With a report due to be handed down from the Senate Inquiry on 1 December, it remains to be seen whether a more concrete solution will be recommended. 

The call for a moratorium on regional bank closures was prompted in February this year, with banks requested to pause closures until the inquiry delivered its findings. 

So far, CBA is the only bank to announce the extension on the pause.