Regional Australia Bank reiterated its commitment to the community at a business breakfast held at Rafters on Tuesday morning last week.
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Regional Australia Bank CEO Kevin Dupé said the business breakfast – a regular part of community engagement – was an important opportunity to reinforce Regional Australia Bank’s support for local businesses and communities.
“We’d like to thank our Guyra customers for their continued support, which allows Regional Australia Bank to continue its branch services into the future,” he said.
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Regional Australia Bank was very keen to stay put, Mr Dupé emphasised, and looked to regional communities like Guyra to support that endeavour.
“It is all about collaboration,” said Mr Dupé. “We are a customer-owned bank that operates in the best interest of our customers, who are also our shareholders. This means we are able to balance our need to make reasonable profits and our obligations to our customers and their communities.”
Banks, Mr Dupé said, were closing because people were banking online; if the Guyra populace wanted the Regional Australia Bank to stay, they had to use the branch.
While there was strong support from the community, who used the bank for personal accounts and housing, Mr Dupé also encouraged businesses to use their services.
“We are you,” the bank stressed. Its Guyra employees also lived in the community, while the bank has given $19,000 to Guyra through its community partnership program, and $8,000 in sponsorship. It had also contributed 100 hours of community service projects, including helping organisations like Rotary with their fundraising.
Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall, who also attended the breakfast, applauded the bank’s commitment to Guyra. He spoke of rewarding businesses who contribute to the community with loyalty.
Mr Marshall launched a blistering attack on the country’s banking establishment last month, condemning their increasing withdrawal from regional Australia, and describing Commonwealth Bank’s decision to close its Guyra branch as the last straw.
Aileen MacDonald, president of the Guyra & District Chamber of Commerce, believed it was important for a bank branch to remain in Guyra.
"I think it is beneficial, both ways, knowing that a bank is prepared to stay in the community," she said.
"It's about having the options still there, not just thinking you've got to do everything on the internet. Not everyone is internet-savvy, and while clicking online is easy, sometimes you've got a question you want to ask face-to-face.”