Union says more Kiwibank branches will shut as NZ Post separates

Thursday, 22 November 2018

Labour MPs are upset at the possible closure of Kiwibank and NZ Post branches around Wellington.

Fourteen Kiwibank branches could close before Christmas, with more set to shut in the New Year, a union leader says.

Kiwibank has announced the intention to close three branches in the past two weeks, in the Nelson suburb of Stoke, and in the Wellington suburbs of Petone and Johnsonville. The branches share premises with New Zealand Post.

The bank announced on Thursday it was planning to open five more stand-alone branches, including one in Westport.

E tū Union national organiser Joe Gallagher said the Kiwibank closures followed NZ Post's decision to 'separate completely' from Kiwibank.

'It's quite an aggressive time-frame around separation, so they're doing about half of the shops before Christmas, and the rest of them after Christmas,' he said.

'There's about 205 people affected before Christmas, there's about 14 shops before Christmas,' he said.

**READ MORE:

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‘Kiwibank’s becoming rarer than the kiwi bird’ – Grey Power Nelson president Christine Tuffnell talks about Kiwibank withdrawing from Stoke.

Gallagher said E tū Union was working with many people who would be affected by the closures.

'We're working with Kiwibank to look at how you transition, because there will be redundancies out of it. We're looking at how you move those people [currently working in NZ Post roles at combined branches] into those banking roles, and help people take their redundancies and move on.'

He said there would be about the same number of closures again after Christmas.

Gallagher said he believed the closure of Stoke's Kiwibank branch was linked to the 2013 change in NZ Post's Deed of Understanding.

'Five years ago the National government changed the deed of understanding, and that's how they govern NZ Post in terms of how many corporate post shops they're required to have,' he said.

Nick Smith and Grey Power's Christine Tuffnell at the Stoke Branch of Kiwibank and NZ Post which is proposed to close.

'What everyone missed [at the time] is the Government allowed NZ Post to reduce the number of corporate shops they were required to have, as long as they provided service points. What you're seeing now is all that being bled through into the system.'

However, a NZ Post spokesperson said they were not 'closing or downgrading' services to any areas, and said any changes planned would have been allowed under the previous deed.

'We want to reassure communities that there are no plans to withdraw postal services from any area,' the spokesperson said.

'NZ Post and Kiwibank are two independently run businesses, which currently share premises in some areas. With the longer-term strategies of the two organisations heading in different directions, it is now an appropriate time to review co-location.'

NZ Post was looking to partner with other businesses.

Labour MPs Ginny Andersen and Greg O'Connor stand outside the Petone NZ Post shop/Kiwibank branch in Petone's Jackson Street. The outlet is proposed to be shut along with others around the country.

'We are committed to providing postal services across New Zealand. What we are increasingly doing across our network is looking for local businesses to partner with to help us deliver postal services.

'While we acknowledge that partnering with local businesses in this way is a change in where people will access these services from, they will continue to be available in the community. NZ Post is making these decisions in the climate of mail decline, as a way of operating in a sustainable way so that we can continue to provide services to communities for many years to come.'

The spokesperson said that any changes would be discussed with staff before public comment was made, and said the majority of the staff in NZ Post branches were employed by Kiwibank.

Kiwibank spokeswoman Kara Tait said that announced changes for branches at this stage were intentions. No changes would happen before NZ Post had secured new partnerships with other businesses.

'Changes are because how people access banking services is changing. We have 90 per cent of people doing transactions online now, so how banking was when Kiwibank first started out 17 years ago is quite different from how people are banking now.'

Tait said customer feedback to Kiwibank indicated that when they went into a branch, they were looking for more than everyday transaction services.

'What our customers have told is is they want in-depth conversations when they come into a bank branch, so they're wanting to talk about how they can manage their money better, or wanting to talk about mortgages or term deposits, and have those in-depth conversations.

'That demand for what customers are wanting has meant that we've moved to stand-alone branches already in some areas, and there will be more of those in future, which is obviously a change.'

Tait said Kiwibank were 'continuously' reviewing retail outlets based on customer activity and on how much service they can provide through online or mobile banking.

She said branches slated to close were ones in close proximity to other Kiwibank outlets. The announced closures in Johnsonville, Petone and Stoke were all less than 10km away from other Kiwibank branches.

'This week so far we have announced changes to our store networks in the Coromandel, Waikato, Wellington and Nelson regions. We are opening standalone branches in Thames, Whitianga, Waihi, Matamata, Cambridge, Te Awamutu, Tokoroa, and Lower Hutt.'

On Thursday, Kiwibank announced intentions to open more stand alone branches in Whangarei, Balclutha, Waiheke Island, Westport and Waipukurau.