Customers will walk, Rural Women warn banks

“If there is not a bank, people will take their businesses to banks that are still there,” she told Dairy News. “There is some big business out there with a lot of money.”

She was responding to ANZ saying it will close five rural branches – Otorohanga, Te Aroha, Massey University in Palmerston North, Milton and Ngaruawahia. This comes directly after Westpac announced 19 rural closures. Otorohanga and Te Aroha are to lose both banks.

Gower comments that banks are closing branches because of overwhelming internet use, yet Rural Women is still battling to get better internet speeds for rural areas. It recently told the Telecommunications Act review that a key goal should be to bring rural speeds up to urban speeds.

“If you are on satellite internet it can be slow and very expensive, and especially on dial-up internet banking is a waste of time,” Gower says.

“We never used to be able to do it. Even broadband, when it gets slow, will time out; this is an issue for a lot of people because if you are doing a lot of transactions you want to make sure it is secure, not timing out, and that everything is done.”

Some people prefer paying by cheque or cash to know the business is done. The elderly in particular like to do their business in person; some do not know how to do internet banking.

With the number of tourist businesses now linked to rural areas, Gower hopes the banks in places such as Otorohanga will still offer facilities for banking with cheques or cash without having to travel to a larger town that could be 45 minutes drive away.

She says she understands the economic reasons for closing branches but sees it as tough for people who need some bank services.