The Australian Government has established a Regional Banking Taskforce to assess the impact of bank branch closures on regional communities.
The Taskforce will bring together banks and other key stakeholders to assess how bank branch closures have impacted local businesses, industries and communities and work collaboratively to identify possible solutions.
The Co-Chairs of the Taskforce are:
- Assistant Treasurer, Minister for Housing and Minister for Homelessness, Social and Community Housing the Hon. Michael Sukkar reporting to the Treasurer
- Senator Perin Davey reporting to the Minister for Emergency Management and National Recovery and Resilience and Minister for Regionalisation, Regional Communications and Regional Education, Senator the Hon. Bridget McKenzie.
On 18 November 2021, the Taskforce commenced a public consultation process. An issues paper has been released and is available at https://treasury.gov.au/consultation/c2021-222961. The consultation process will be open for four weeks with submissions closing 18 December 2021.
Insights from the submissions will help the Taskforce better understand the impacts of branch closures and how Australians are accessing banking services. They will also help improve banking services and accessibility where branches have closed.
To make a submission, send to: [email protected] or Secretariat, Regional Banking Taskforce, Financial System Division, The Treasury, Langton Crescent, Parkes ACT 2600.