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Over the next five months the transformation of the National's network will continue across regional and rural Australia, involving the closure of 56 rural limited-service agencies. The transformation results in 28 agency closures in Victoria, 14 in New South Wales, seven in Queensland, six in South Australia and one in Western Australia. The National's ongoing arrangement, however, with Australia Post will further enhance our rural banking services. "Many regional and rural agencies have limited opening hours; with some as little as one day per week. Our arrangement with Australia Post provides customers with more locations, more hours of operation and full time over the counter services," said Ian MacDonald, Executive General Manager, Financial Services Australia. "Last year the National transformed its network in metropolitan areas. This resulted in the provision of Australia Post's full time giroPost banking service to the National's personal customers across more than 2,900 localities, and to business customers at selected Australia Post outlets. "The transformation of the regional and rural network is being undertaken as a result of rapidly changing customer preferences and a noticeable decline in the number of over the counter transactions in each of the 56 limited-service agencies. "Most customers are now choosing to transact through more convenient electronic alternatives, such as telephone banking, ATM, EFTPOS, and the Internet. "Over the counter transactions account for less than 10% of the National's total transactions. Most of the time customers are choosing self service channels to access their funds 24 hours a day, 7 days a week," Mr MacDonald said. Through our arrangement with Australia Post, regional and rural communities retain sustainable transaction services. It has allowed the National to make a commitment to not close branches where there is no alternative service. The National has no further large-scale changes planned for its network over the next 12 months. There will also be no change to the National's range of products and services in regional and rural Australia, which includes teams of mobile Agribusiness and specialist bankers operating out of key regional Business Banking Centres. "The National has a total of 1159 locations. Of these 854 are branches and agencies, with more than half in regional and rural areas. The remainder comprises other outlets, such as Business Banking centres and Financial Service centres. "Customers who conduct transactional banking at any closing agencies will be notified at least 12 weeks before the closure. Assistance will be provided to help customers understand the wide range of transactional choices available to them," Mr MacDonald said. While some retrenchments are anticipated, the National is committed to ensuring that affected employees are fully consulted throughout the process. All efforts will be taken to redeploy employees throughout the organisation and adhere to the process in our industrial agreements.
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