WELLINGTON (CU)_Last month, National MP Andrew Bayly called for an inquiry into the impact of the closure of bank branches and the withdrawal of cheques on low-vision, neuro-different and elderly New Zealanders. According to the minister, about a million people are struggling with the shift to digital banking, which was particularly fuelled by the pandemic last year, with many businesses moving to digital transactions. Bayly raised these concerns following KPMG’s 2020 review of banks, which found that New Zealand’s big five banks closed 249 ATMs and 82 branches in one year. According to the report, during the year leading up to September last year, retail bank branches in the entire banking sector declined from 934 to 850, while the number of ATMs also fell from 2465 to 2216.
Accordingly, a May select committee hearing was held, during which ministers inquired New Zealand Bankers’ Association chief executive Roger Beaumont on what the future of the bank branch was and if the existence of bank branches have a future at all. Responding to these questions Beaumont claimed that it is the change in customer demand that has driven these circumstances.
“Customers prefer the convenience of online banking or banking on their app,” he told the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee. “Banks are simply responding to where customers are choosing to engage with them and how they’re choosing to transact.” According the Bankers’ Association chief, less than…
