Most banks are still shedding branches

Claims by the Australian Bankers Association that banks are expanding their branch networks may be misleading.

The headline number of 106 new bank branches in the year to June 2009, as reported by APRA yesterday and repeated by David Bell, CEO of the ABA, relies heavily on a few institutions and definitional changes, while most banks lost branches.

ANZ, NAB and Commonwealth all lost branches during the financial year, as did the mutual sector.

Westpac/St George expanded during the year, adding eleven branches between them while Suncorp added four.

Rural Bank (previously known as Elders Rural Bank) added fifty branches to its network in the year to June 2009 according to the latest Points of Presence data released by APRA yesterday. However that spectacular growth may be due to APRA changing the definition of Elders outlets to bank branches.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank added 16 branches, despite losing three in Victoria. Bankwest, which was purchased halfway through the year by Commonwealth Bank, also added 16 branches in the eastern states.

Bank of Queensland could not offset losses in WA and the southern states by adding the Home Building Society's 33 branches. BoQ's branch network contracted by 20 branches in total.

The total number of face-to-face banking points of presence was down 10 per cent in 2008/09, as reported by APRA, mainly due to the withdrawal of Commonwealth's 938 Ezy Banking facilities from Woolworths supermarkets.