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National Australia Bank has completed a major review of its Australian distribution network. It plans to : - Increase the number of locations by 2800 and hours of operation (from 9am-5pm) where personal customers can transact by joining Australia Post's giroPost service
- Reduce the number of traditional branch outlets by approximately 100 - with almost 70 of these being amalgamated with nearby outlets (within a 5km area)
- Expand its ATM, ADM (automatic deposit machine), EBD (express business deposit networks and enhanced consumer and business internet facilities
- Relocate, up-grade or redesign 110 outlets.
The Chief Executive Officer of Australian Financial Services, Mike Pratt said the changes would begin next year. They followed a 12 month study of customer transactions. "We plan to provide more services in those areas where customers have been increasing their retail transactions and upgrade those branches," Mr Pratt said. "All of these changes will be made progressively over the next 12 months to ensure no inconvenience to our customers," Mr Pratt said. The changes will be made to the metropolitan network and not in country areas. Both metropolitan and country areas will, however, benefit from the new arrangement with Australia Post. That will increase the number of customer banking points across Australia by 2800. The National had advised its staff and the FSU of the proposed changes, Mr Pratt said. "Even though the changes are not due to begin until next year we wanted to make sure our staff were fully aware of them. "We also discussed the changes yesterday with the FSU. We confirmed with the FSU and our staff that given our current attrition levels, there would be no redundancies of any retail branch staff. "The comments from the FSU regarding 1000 redundancies are nonsense. They have totally misused information provided in good faith to our staff and their own delegates. "The actions of the FSU have been designed to embarrass the National. My message to them is that we have nothing to be embarrassed about. "We have been - and will continue to be open with our staff, customers and others about our plans in regard to access and pricing of our products," Mr Pratt said. The National has advised the Federal Government of its plans. It has also provided information on the plans to community groups and interest groups.
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