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The article says the enquiry was prompted by community questions about the impact on customers, especially older people and those living in regional communities. It says they have been particularly affected by branch closures given the often-poor state of online technology and the big travel distances to the nearest town with an operational bank branch.
More than 80 branches have closed since September 2022, and the financial services watchdog, APRA, reports that between June 2017 and June 2022, 30% of bank branches closed across cities and regional and remote communities. There has been a consistent percentage drop across all states and territories.
The number of ATMs in major cities and regional areas has more than halved to 4,329 and EFTPOS terminals dropped from 800,000 to 700,000.
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