THE ANZ bank is moving out of Mount Eliza.
The branch, which closed in March, is believed to have been in Mount Eliza Way for the past 40 years.
The bank’s general manager for Victoria and Tasmania Michael Wake blamed the decision not to reopen on a drop in customers.
“Our customers aren’t using branches for their everyday banking like they used to and each year we see a 10 per cent reduction in customer transactions,” he said.
“At the same time demand in many of our non-branch roles, such as customer contact centres and the operations team, which manages hardship and other inquiries, has grown dramatically.”
Mr Wake said customers “prefer the convenience of doing their banking when it suits and our smartphone apps, internet banking and call centre services are convenient”.
“While this is a clear trend, we recognise the transition will be more challenging for some customers,” he said. “We recently wrote to customers personally to inform them and to let them know about alternative banking methods, including online, telephone and mobile banking.”
Mr Wake would not say how many jobs would be lost and that the bank was “seeking to retain as many staff as possible through helping them move into a range of new roles across ANZ where our customers need us most right now”.
Mr Wake said customers wanting face-to-face banking could go to the ANZ’s Mornington branch.
