THE Toormina Commonwealth Bank branch in Toormina Gardens Shopping Centre is closing its doors for good, with its last day of trading being Friday, 25 November.

Norm Swift, Regional General Manager, Commonwealth Bank told News Of The Area, “After a recent review, we made the difficult decision to permanently close our Toormina branch, which has had a 42 percent drop in transactions over the five years before the Coronavirus pandemic.”

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The nearest branch for Toormina customers is at Park Beach Plaza Coffs Harbour, around ten kilometres drive via the Pacific Highway or Hogbin Drive.

“We understand this change may affect the way some of our customers bank, and the team at Toormina branch are available until Friday, 25 November 2022 to help customers find the solutions that best suit their needs,” Mr Swift said.

Sawtell resident Greg Costello, now aged 70, was the publican at the Sawtell Hotel for 36 years.

Mr Costello told NOTA the closure of the branch was “rude and wrong”.

“The banks don’t care about older people who aren’t good with using computers.

“There’s a lot of people of all ages who don’t want to do online banking or can’t do it and they need help and without a car how are they going to get over the Park Plaza, it’s not an easy bus journey.”

An alternative over-the-counter service in Toormina is offered at Australia Post’s Bank@Post service which includes personal and business banking transactions, withdrawals and deposits including passbooks, during normal business hours.

“We recognise some senior customers prefer to do their banking face-to-face and it’s one of the reasons we’re proud to maintain the largest branch network in the country,” said Mr Swift.

Mr Swift noted customers can access their accounts 24 hours a day through NetBank or the CommBank app.

“We’re also available for general banking enquiries, through our locally based contact centres on 13 22 21, every day between 8am and 8pm,” Mr Swift said.

Mr Costello said there would be a large number of local people feeling abandoned by the banking system, noting for example that some banking business requires filling out complex forms.

“Doing this online can be really stressful for people who don’t know their way around a computer or apps.

“Attaching a photo of their driver’s license is too complicated for some people, they want a face-to-face service in a physical bank,” he said.

The only bricks-and-mortar bank remaining in Toormina Gardens Shopping Village is BCU Bank which is temporarily closed due to storm damage from the October 2021 hail storm.

By Andrea FERRARI