Bankwest closes EVERY branch as it scraps cash and becomes ‘digital only’

In a shock move the Commonwealth Bank is closing all branches of its subsidiary Bankwest, which will become a digital only financial institution.

Staff and customers were told Wednesday that the remaining 60 Bankwest branches would be either closed or converted into Commonwealth Bank outlets by October and 350 impacted staff would be offered other roles.

Only 15 Bankwest branches, all located in Western Australian country centres, will be converted to Commonwealth Bank centres with the remaining 45, including 28 in Perth and 17 in regional WA, to close. 

Five Bankwest branches had already been slated to close by mid-April, while the Commonwealth Bank said it could not guarantee the 15 branches that will be adopted into the parent company will stay open beyond 2026.

Bankwest executive general manager Jason Chan said closing the network was a difficult but necessary decision to ensure the bank’s sustainability but admitted some customers would find it ‘quite confronting’.

‘By doing this now and going a little bit harder, we can unlock that investment and get those jobs and get that new capability and lift the experience for 97 per cent of customers using digital channels,’ Mr Chan said.

Bankwest claimed that falling patronage by its 550,000 customers in Western Australia no longer justified the cost of keeping open the branches dotted around the vast state. 

He said branches were handling an average of just 30 over-the-counter transactions a day with the regional centres only processing 15. 

Bankwest has been running branches for well over a century since it was set up as the Agricultural Bank of Western Australia in 1895 by the West Australian government to lend money to agricultural concerns and farmers.

The Commonwealth bank snapped Bankwest as a bargain buy in the aftermath of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. 

In early 2022 the CBA announced Bankwest would be transitioning out of business lending, despite that being its original mission. 

Even as Bankwest has grown into one of West Australia’s biggest home mortgage lenders it has steadily downscaled its branches and had closed all the east coast outlets by early 2023. 

Bankwest was criticised last year by Queensland LNP Senator Gerard Rennick for letting down people in the bush.

‘Farmers and regional customers don’t always get wireless and they don’t always get the mobile reception,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.

‘It means farmers have to drive further to the next branch. They are basically turning their back on providing services.

‘They are all doing it and it is getting harder and harder.’

The Bankwest branches set to close are Bunbury Forum, Busselton, Manjimup, Margaret River, Albany, Katanning, Esperance, Kalgoorlie, Merredin, Moora, Narrogin, Northam, Geraldton, Broome, Karratha, Kununurra and Port Hedland.

Bridgetown, Collie, Dunsborough, Pemberton, Denmark, Kojonup, Mount Barker, Corrigin, Dalwallinu, Jurien, Kondinin, Narembeen, Lake Grace and Newman will be converted to CBA branches.