Bankwest to become digital bank

Bankwest has announced that it is moving to become a fully digital bank this year, closing 45 Bankwest branches in Western Australia (28 in metro locations and 17 in regional locations) by October 2024. This will be done in phases, beginning with the least-frequented branches.

Around 15 regional branches will be converted to CBA by the end of the year.

It has said it will “offer a new career opportunity to every branch colleague impacted [by] this change, so they can continue to serve customers nationwide”.

Around 350 people are employed in a branch, including 120 in regional Western Australia.

The closure of bank branches and the move to becoming a digital bank came as a result of changing consumer behaviour, according to the bank.

It flagged that 90 per cent of its home loans currently originate through the broker channel and 97 per cent of transactions by Bankwest customers were serviced digitally last year, with fewer than 2 per cent of its customers visiting a branch regularly.

Further, it added that more than half of its customer base is now located on the east coast (where the bank does not have any branches).

According to Bankwest, its branch network averages just over 30 over-the-counter transactions daily, with that number being just 15 in the regions.

It will continue to partner with Australia Post to enable customers to access cash services through the Bank@Post services and customers will also be able to use CBA cash machines without being charged fees.

The lender has said its digital transformation will see 500 CBA Group jobs in technology, operations, and customer service being ‘redirected’ to Western Australia.

The move will also result in its broker offering being bolstered – with further investment opportunities for the development of the tools, services, and support available to brokers.

Bankwest said this “reinforced” its “strong relationships with its critical broker community”.

Speaking of the move to become a digital bank, Bankwest executive general manager Jason Chan said: “We’ve continued to evolve as a bank for almost 130 years, ensuring Bankwest has remained a sustainable, growing and successful WA-based business, and a major WA employer, in a highly competitive national banking sector.

“It’s critical we prioritise investment for the majority of our customers who expect leading digital and broker banking services, and rarely use branches, but we have a clear focus on the needs of our regular branch users at this time.”

Looking to the future, Chan said: “[C]ustomers will have a clear and distinct choice between CBA’s personal and business banking offering and national branch network, and Bankwest’s simple and easy digital and broker offering, focused on home owners’ needs.”

While Chan acknowledged that the move to close branches “will be difficult news for some of [its] customers”, he emphasised the banking group would be introducing a range of measures to help customers who use branches regularly through this transition.

This includes:

- Having Bankwest Community Bankers in select communities where branches close to help with non-cash service and support that is face to face.

- A specialist Bankwest Community Assistance team in Bankwest’s Western Australia-based 24/7 contact centre to offer phone support.

- A dedicated program to help the 2,000 customers who only use a branch move to CBA everyday banking accounts if they wish to still access branches.

He also flagged that impacted employees would be “offered opportunities to access the next generation of banking jobs so they can continue to support customers nationwide from in their own communities”.

“Bankwest is here to stay and our transition to a digital bank is unlocking significant investment from the CBA Group to create a world-class Bankwest offering and support our growth nationwide, powered by WA colleagues passionate about customers,” Chan said.

Reinvestment to broker channel

Ian Rakhit, Bankwest’s general manager, third party, said: “Bankwest has established a strong relationship with brokers that is founded on mutual respect and genuine collaboration in delivering the best possible experience for current and aspiring Australian home owners.

“Brokers are so important to Bankwest and the decision to pivot the business to free up increased investment to enhance its broker offering is a reflection of that importance.

“We’ve been consistently working with brokers to understand their needs and pain points and deliver the tools, services and policy improvements that make their lives as simple and easy as possible, and I look forward to enhancing that offering.”

The move to turn Bankwest into a fully digital bank came as its parent company has been increasingly prioritising the direct channel through its CBA brand and broker channel through Bankwest.

For the past few years, broker flows at CBA have been dropping steadily – with its most recent financial results showing that just 33 per cent of new mortgages were written by the broker channel.

When including Bankwest in the group, this number is 43 per cent.

[Related: Streamlined data sharing speeds up mortgages: Bankwest]