THE National Bank will permanently close its Rosewood branch and remove the ATM on November 3, this year.
According to the Bank’s Retail Customer Executive, Thomas Quinlan, the decision to close the 121 year old branch was made based on the increasing number of customers choosing alternative methods of banking.
“Increasingly Australians are banking digitally, with more than 94 percent of customer interactions now taking place over the phone, by video or online,” he said.
“Over the past few years, fewer customers are coming into branches to do their banking and foot traffic has lessened, which has been accelerated by Covid-19.
“Approximately half of our customers in Rosewood have only visited the branch once in the last year and more than 70 percent of customers are also using other branches.”
But Rosewood resident, Jim Trevethan said that he was surprised when he heard the news, because he thought that the NAB branch in Rosewood would have been kept quite busy.
“For the older generations who like to talk to banking staff in person this is not good news, I know myself that I find navigating the internet quite challenging and it will make things difficult for me when the branch closes,” he said.
“I guess like most businesses everything is going digital and on the internet, and in many cases, we do not have much of a choice other than just to go with it.”
The loss of service was also of concern.
“Changes like this eliminate friendly service that our generation is used to,” Mr Trevethan said.
“There is nothing like one on one customer service that unfortunately will now only be a part of Rosewood’s history.”
However, Mr Quinlan said branch staff would work with customers about the available banking alternatives and pointed to the Bank@post service through Australia Post.
“Customers can conduct a range of banking services including deposits of up to $9,999 and withdrawals of up to $2,000 per day.”
He added that branch staff would be offered opportunities “to continue to support customers either through other branches or across phone and digital channels.”
• The National Australia Bank in Rosewood dates back to the Royal Bank of Queensland branch that opened in 1901.
