Disappointment at Westpac bank closure proposal in Winton

Thursday, 11 February 2021

A proposal to close Winton’s Westpac branch follows the closure of its south Invercargill branch [pictured] in 2020.

A proposal to close the Westpac bank in Winton has disappointed the town’s community board chairman who says older customers will be most affected.

A Westpac spokesman said it started consultation with employees on closing the Winton branch on February 4.

Over-the-counter transactions at the bank had fallen by 36 per cent in the past year, and 65 per cent nationally in the past four years, he said.

There were now 100 online banking log-ins compared to each individual transaction in a branch, and Covid-19 had accelerated those trends.

* Winton BNZ hours reducing

Winton Community Board chairman Brian Somerville.

The Westpac spokesman was unable to immediately say how many people actually used the Westpac branch in Winton.

The town’s community board chair Brian Somerville said the closure was something people had been expecting, given the trend of bank closures elsewhere.

However, it was still disappointing as he did not believe online banking matched the personal contact customers had with staff in physical bank branches.

“There will be a lot of disappointed people around, that’s for sure.

”It’s been around a long time and serviced a good wee rural community and we would like to keep them there, but there's not much we can do about it is there.”

He felt for the older customers, especially those who liked to walk into the bank and discuss their banking issues with staff.

The closest Westpac for Winton customers was in Invercargill, about 35 minutes drive, which itself lost a branch in the south of the city in 2020 but still had two remaining.

BNZ in Winton is also expected to close by June.

The Westpac spokesman said under the proposed closure of the Winton branch, three staff roles would be transferred to Invercargill and one role would be disestablished.

“We are working with that team member to discuss their options.”

Westpac was not currently proposing to close any other branches in Southland or Otago.

Most households in New Zealand had access to either a computer, landline or mobile phone which gave them 24-hour access to banking, the Westpac spokesman said.

“We encourage customers to talk to us about their banking options.”

Westpac’s two Invercargill branches offered banking services from Monday to Friday and also had 24-hour ATM machines, which accepted deposits and bill payments, he said.