Calling bull#%*t on the better big bank branch network

ABOVE: A big bank? The truth is in the numbers.

WITH the announcement that Bendigo Bank is closing two of its regional branches at Yarram and Korumburra this week, it’s time to again call bull#%*t on the claims this corporation makes about the size of its branch network.

In the statement announcing the closures, the bank told media: “Bendigo Bank operates Australia’s second largest regional branch network and the third largest branch network overall”.

This is simply not true.

Bendigo Bank owns, operates and pays the wages of staff at just 75*(SEE UPDATE) branches across regional Australia.

That number, thanks to this week’s announcement, will shrink to 73.

Of these, just seven branches are in towns where Bendigo is the only bank in town.

That number will also shrink next month because in deciding to close two of its branches, Bendigo Bank has not selected sites in locations that are well serviced by banks, it is pulling out of towns that rely on it as the only bank left.

This act has always been a dog move, no matter which of the corporates is responsible for leaving a community without banking services.

All the major banks are guilty of slashing regional networks but how does the Bendigo Bank’s claim of operating the second largest regional network stack up against the big four?

The Commonwealth Bank still has 334 branches outside the capital cities, NAB has 233, Westpac 152 and ANZ 152.

At 75 corporate branches, Bendigo’s regional network is not even half the size of the smallest of the big four banks, putting it at a distant fifth place in terms of size.

Bendigo Bank trades off the good will generated by its franchise network of much-loved community banks, which, at just over 200 sites, eclipse Bendigo Bank's regional network.

These banks however, are wholly owned and operated by the communities who stumped up all the cash to get them up and running.

It is those communities who have bought the buildings, employ the staff and pay the bills, which include franchise fees that allow them to use the Bendigo Bank name.

Pulling the last bank out of a town is a great way to trash a brand so if Bendigo bank keeps doing this sort of thing and people start to cotton on that corporate Bendigo Bank has no sense of community, you have to wonder how much that name is really going to be worth going forward.

Perhaps it's time for the community banks to start looking at better brand options – or at least start charging Bendigo Bank for the goodwill they generate for them, instead of the other way round.  

If Bendigo Bank wants to keep claiming it's a big bank on billboards and in media campaigns, chief executive Richard Fennell should be frog-marched into parliament to sign up to the regional bank closure moratorium.

ABOVE: The locations of the 73 branches the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank owns and operates in regional Australia. Note that regional is defined as any location outside the capital cities urban area as defined by the Bureau of Statistics. The Australian Banking Association excludes the major regional cities of Geelong, Newcastle and Wollongong, as well as the Gold and Sunshine coastal areas, from its definition of regional. This makes the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank's regional network even smaller at 64.

*UPDATE: Since this story was published, new closure announcements have come to light and a full audit of Bendigo Bank branch has been data undertaken. As well as Korumburra and Yarram branches closing on August 29 and September 26, Bendigo Bank is closing regional branches at Geelong (Malop St) on August 1 and Bannockburn, Malanda, Tully and Kings Meadows on September 26. Ballarat (Central) will close on October 31. Bendigo Bank is also closing one community franchise at Queenstown on September 26 and a cashless franchise at Beaudesert on July 25.

The audit of data revealed the loss of five other regional branches that have not been previously reported: Cairns (Sheridan St) closed on June 19, 2024, Chevron Island between April 2023 and June 2024, Nambour in 2023, Townsville (Fairfield Central) May 24, 2024 and Mildura (Fifteenth St) in 2021-2022.

This puts Bendigo Bank's regional branch count at 63, or if using the Australian Banking Association's definition of regional, just 58.

READ THE CORPORATIONS ACT 2001: False or misleading statements

READ MORE ON BENDIGO BANK'S REGIONAL NETWORK: Banking regulator fixes long-standing errors but data doesn't add up

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Dale Webster received a grant from the Public Fund for Journalism to investigate regional bank closures in Australia and for this work was named Freelance Journalist of the Year by the Walkley Foundation in 2022. These stories were also recognised by the Melbourne Press Club with a Quill Award. Her data was the trigger for the 2023-24 Senate inquiry looking at the issue and her reporting and research was referenced 17 times in the final report. 

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