The Bank of Queensland is continuing to thumb their nose at local communities with its latest tranche of branch closures and risk of job cuts.
In total, nine branches will close between July and September in Subiaco and Bunbury (WA), Sydney Markets, Campbelltown and Byron Bay (NSW) and Aspley, Edge Hill, Aitkenvale and Surfers Paradise (Queensland). These are in addition to the Manly, NSW branch which closed on 30 May.
While BoQ has said they’ll seek to offer redeployment to suitable roles for the 30 staff who work across the nine branches, there are obviously real fears that some employees will no longer be in a position to continue to work for the Bank.
Finance Sector Union National Secretary Julia Angrisano said:
“The Bank of Queensland, once proud of their national network, are continuing to gut branches from local communities. Removing branches is a shameful act of betrayal by big businesses who care about their profit more than they care about delivering the local services banks used to be proud to provide to their customers.
“There are 30 hard working staff across those nine branches. We are pleased to see commitments to redeploy staff, but those processes can be highly stressful, and not all staff will be able to take advantage of those opportunities. They will lose their connections to local customers and communities by being relocated to other branches/roles within Bank of Queensland and may not be able to manage additional travel time.
“The greedy actions of the Bank of Queensland are reprehensible, but sadly not surprising. These branch closures follow a trend as the bank loses the connections with communities. In January, the Bank announced the closure of 14 branches across the nation. CEO Patrick Allaway has been on a cost cutting frenzy for more than 18 months, buying back franchised branches – which we always said was a precursor to more branch closures – and announcing staff cuts of 400 in September 2024, on top of 220 staff cuts in October 2023.
“Bank of Queensland customers are right to feel deeply betrayed by yet more branch closures, and Finance Sector Union members stand with them in disgust at the actions of this greedy corporation. We shouldn’t need to see more branches, ATMs and staff jobs slashed before the Federal Government acts.
“Banks are only able to slash branches and ATMs at will due to the lack of any regulations. We look forward to discussing banking regulation with the new Assistant Treasurer and Federal Financial Services Minister Daniel Mulino.
“The Finance Sector Union believes there needs to be minimum standards introduced to ensure that all Australians have access to choice in basic banking services. The removal of branches and ATMs are designed to boost profits while reducing services. The absence of minimum standards allows banks to cut services on a whim with no regard to local needs or preferences.”
List of the latest announced Branch Closures by Bank of Queensland
Media contact: David Imber – 0413 274 204
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