With the major banks facing pressure to maintain banking services in rural regions, Westpac New Zealand is launching a community banking pilot service via a van that'll travel between towns.
Westpac says the van will hit Southland's roads from mid-May, spending one day per week in central locations in Windsor, Winton and Te Anau.
Bank staff from Southland branches will travel with the van to assist customers with the likes of opening accounts, applying for home or personal loans, pinning and issuing cards, and support with using online services.
Westpac says the van will be cashless, meaning it can't take cash deposits or issue cash, however staff may be able to help customers at nearby ATMs.
"In choosing where to run the pilot, we looked at where there was the most opportunity for a mobile service to have an impact. While Westpac has a strong branch presence in Southland, the widespread geography of the towns there made it a great region to trial this approach," Westpac Consumer Banking & Wealth spokesperson Andrew Twidle says.
It's not the first time Westpac has tried something a bit different with branches. Following the devastating February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, the bank used mobile branches built inside shipping containers.
According to KMPG's latest annual Financial Institutions Performance Survey, Westpac had 106 branches as of September 30 last year, down six year-on-year. It had 385 owned ATMs, down 28. Across the NZ banking industry there were 616 branches at September 30, down 40 year-on-year, and 1543 ATMS, down 317.
The big five banks - ANZ NZ, ASB, BNZ, Kiwibank and Westpac NZ - committed last May to not close regional bank branches over a three year period. Facing political pressure over branch closures, the banks also undertook a regional banking hubs trial.
The trial ended last July, with the New Zealand Banking Association saying it didn't show a significant demand for the physical services with hub usage lower than many comparable regional branches or ATMs. Nonetheless most of the hub network remains in place, albeit hubs in Stoke and Ōpunake were closed. Remaining hubs include ones in Waimate, Whangamatā, Ōpōtiki, Martinborough and Twizel.
Meanwhile, Westpac says it has been trialling a community banker service in Wairoa over the last six months. This involves a Westpac banker visiting a community centre in Wairoa one day a fortnight to help locals with banking services.
"While the Wairoa community banking service is still in its trial phase, we’re already exploring how we might be able to offer a similar service in other regions," Twidle says.
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