ANZ to close six more branches as cull continues
ANZ is closing six more branches across Australia, a decision which has drawn anger from a banking union.
Since the beginning of last year, ANZ has closed 152 branches, according to the Finance Sector Union (FSU).
FSU National Secretary Julia Angrisano said the timing of the shutdowns was "heartless", and would affect frontline staff and customers.
When making earlier branch closures, ANZ claimed more and more customers were moving online and did not need regular in-branch banking. Nine
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Branches facing the axe include Mareeba, Queensland; Loxton and North Adelaide in South Australia; Ballarat East in Victoria; Osborne Park in Western Australia; and Sydney Airport in New South Wales.
Thirty-three staff are affected.
In a statement to 9news.com.au, ANZ confirmed the closures and said the bank was seeking to retain as many of the employees as it could.
But the FSU said the workers now faced an "insecure future".
"This is a heartless decision by the ANZ to close branches and impact the lives of staff at a time when bank workers are on the front line ... in the middle of a pandemic," Ms Angrisano said.
"These workers are predominantly women."
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An ANZ spokesperson said the decision to shut branches was being driven by customer habits which were now showing a strong preference for online banking, not in-branch business.
"Last year alone 70 per cent of our customers preferred digital banking options."
Since January, 48 branches have been notified of closure this calendar year.
ANZ has programs in place for employees who suffered financial hardship after job losses, the spokesperson said.
"Of our employees that were working in a branch that closed last year, we were able to find new roles or redeployment opportunities for nearly all of them that wanted to stay with ANZ, including at remote locations."
In May ANZ posted a cash profit of $2.98 billion for the six months ending March 31, up from $1.32 billion last year.
During the pandemic, the ANZ share price almost halved but has since climbed above pre-2020 levels.
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