State Member for Wallsend, Ms Sonia Hornery MP, has called on the NSW Government to do more to ensure the most vulnerable in the community are not being left behind following the announcement of another bank branch closure.
Ms Hornery has been notified by Westpac that it will be closing its New Lambton branch in October and removing its ATM.
Ms Hornery recently wrote to Westpac about branch closures and asked for statistics of people who are not registered for digital or online banking.
As a result of the branch closure, around 45% of people aged 70 years or over in the area will be left without an alternative as they are not registered for digital banking.
“In recent years, banks have been retreating from the Wallsend Electorate—abandoning customers in the western suburbs as branch after branch is closed,” Ms Hornery said.
“The last few months have seen more banks close branches in the western suburbs.
“The Newcastle Permanent has closed its branch in Cardiff. The Greater Bank has closed its Jesmond branch and the Commonwealth Bank has temporarily closed its Wallsend branch.
“I recently wrote to all the major financial institutions about the levels of online banking within the Wallsend electorate, after concerns were raised with me by sections of the community earlier in the year.
“Almost half of people aged 70 and over and 28% of bank customers in general are not registered for online banking.
“The continued closure of these banks without any thought or care for a significant number of their customers is having a huge impact on the community.
“Families and carers are forced to wear the brunt of these closures with customers forced to travel further to get access to their money.
“These highly profitable financial institutions and our Government need to do more to ensure that the most vulnerable in the community are not left behind and forced to turn to unscrupulous services in order to meet their financial needs,” Ms Hornery said.