When news broke that the Commonwealth Bank branches in Blayney and Molong are closing in June, member for Calare Andrew Gee and mayors Scott Ferguson and Kevin Beatty were highly critical and vocal in their criticism of the bank.
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On Monday afternoon the three of them were able to voice their opposition directly to the bank's CEO Matt Comyn thanks to a Zoom meeting organised by Mr Gee.
"I organised the meeting with our mayors and the CEO of the Commonwealth Bank, Matt Comyn, and his senior executives because I wanted them to hear first-hand how shocked and disappointed we are about these proposed branch closures in Blayney and Molong," Mr Gee said.
"The closures are particularly galling for older community members, many of whom have banked with the Commonwealth their entire lives.
"The bank advertises what a great friend it is to local communities but with these closures it has not backed up its words with deeds"
Cr Ferguson said that the hour-long meeting ended on a positive note with the bank agreeing to look at three aspects of the closure.
"During the meeting they only ever spoke of the criteria for closing a branch was because the number of transactions had dropped below a certain number," he said.
It is a very shabby and disrespectful way to treat loyal country customers, and we made this very clear to them.
- Andrew Gee
"We believe that with COVID and three years of drought that those numbers don't truly indicate the position of the bank or the opportunities to increase transactions as Blayney grows.
"They agreed to go back and crunch the numbers and make sure they're right."
Following NAB's advice for their customers to utilise the services at the post office, Cr Ferguson told Mr Comyn that that simply doesn't work for neither Blayney or Molong.
"Secondly the CBA thought that the post office was the best default for their customers," he said.
"But Kevin and I discussed that if they went and talked to the post office themselves they'll get a different response.
"Here in Blayney they're flat out doing a great job at what they're doing as a post office and it's unreasonable to expect them to add another whole layer of service similar to what was available 350 metres up the road at the bank.
"In Molong the post office is a sub franchise of the newsagency so the bank will be going to go and have a look at that as well."
Mr Gee said that it was clear from the meeting that both Blayney and Molong are still areas of profit for the bank and that they are merely closing branches to improve the bottom line for their shareholders.
"It is a very shabby and disrespectful way to treat loyal country customers, and we made this very clear to them."
It's hard to say what will come of it , but at least we took the issue right to the top and they heard directly how we feel and the affect this will have on our communities. I'll keep the community posted on the progress."
Throughout Blayney Cr Ferguson said that the community was feeling angst due to the Commonwealth Banks closure.
"There is a real perception that the bank is just closing the doors and saying 'See you later,'" he said.
"I asked if they plan on closing 400 of their 800 branches over the next five years or so, why can't the board, with all their power and influence, come up with a better transition than closing these banks in rural areas."
The Commonwealth Bank is scheduled to close on June 4.
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