Media releases

The Finance Sector Union (FSU) says the result shows Bendigo Bank is financially strong, but instead of investing in staff and customers, it is closing branches where it is the last remaining bank branch in regional communities, closing its entire agency network, and accelerating the use of automation and AI. 

In its pre-trading update to the ASX, Bendigo has said that the closure of the ten regional branches and impacts to 100 jobs is just phase one of a ‘comprehensive’ productivity program.  

Finance Sector Union National Secretary Julia Angrisano said: 

“Bendigo has posted hundreds of millions in profit, but communities and workers are paying the price. Branches are closing, jobs are under threat, and customer service is being wound back. 

“Workers have been told Bendigo’s five-year plan is about ‘optimising’ branches and ‘efficiencies’ through automation. We know what that means: fewer jobs and less face-to-face service for customers. 

“At a time when trust in banking is already fragile, Bendigo should be reinvesting its profit in staff and the communities it serves, not hollowing out its workforce. 

“Regional Australians are being abandoned. Bendigo built its reputation on being the ‘most trusted bank’ in the bush, but it’s turning its back on the very communities that made it strong.  

“We’ve already seen how they’ve left multiple regional communities without essential banking services by closing the last remaining bank branch in those towns.”  

 Media contact: Kate Shuttleworth – 0447 418 726