OUTRAGED locals are expected to descend on Cohuna for a public protest on Thursday afternoon in a last-ditch bid to stop Bendigo Bank closing its Cohuna and Pyramid Hill agencies.
The bank has said it will close both agencies late in July.
Organisers of the protest are hoping hundreds will gather in front of the Cohuna agency at King George Street at 12.15pm.
Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh, who will be at the meeting, said he was “incredibly disappointed” by the bank’s actions, which would “possibly smash the local economy in Pyramid Hill”.
The looming closure has particularly rocked Pyramid Hill and threatens the future of the town’s limited pharmacy service and Filipino supermarket.
Max Lacey, who has run the Bendigo Bank agency for the past eight years, said he had grown the business 400 per cent.
He said the bank wanted the agency to have an address of its own, so he bought the building at Kelly Street where, to offset costs, he leased space to the Cohuna pharmacy to run a regular service for Pyramid Hill locals as well as the supermarket catering to the town’s strong Filipino population.
“But without the bank agency and its income, the other two businesses would not be viable and probably lost to the town,” Mr Lacey said.
“I just cannot understand the decision. The agency is doing a strong business and it is so important to so many people in the town.
“On March 28 the bank advised me it was suspending opening online accounts for security reasons, then two days later I got another letter to say a review by the bank had been completed and I would be terminated on July 31.”
Mr Lacey, who has run the town’s bakery for six years and the IGA supermarket for 12, said he took up the banking agency as a new opportunity.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank regional manager Shaun Leech says the bank’s review “confirmed a significant, and continued, decline in financial transactions, lending and new account openings, which impacts the face-to-face operations and viability of our agency network”.
Mr Leech said it had been an “extremely difficult decision”.
Mr Walsh visited Pyramid Hill last week and said he was amazed how many people came into the agency in the 20 minutes he was there to express their support of Mr Lacey and his business.
“Several told me they had no idea what they would do next. There is no ATM in Pyramid Hill, and they have always used banks and always want to, and they can’t all travel to other towns for banking.
“Incorporated bodies, such as sports clubs, can’t have card accounts either, so if they have to travel to, for example, Kerang, to get cash, is that where they will get their drinks for the weekend, fill their petrol tanks, do some supermarket shopping?
“The ripple effects from this short-sighted decision will possibly smash the local economy in Pyramid Hill.
“Community banking is what Bendigo Bank was all about, people like these helped this bank get started. And this is their thanks.
“Max Lacey concedes transactions are down a bit, but the extra help and advice he provides doesn’t show up on head office computers. It provides his community with a valuable – and irreplaceable – service.”
Cohuna’s Bendigo Bank agency has a protest sign in its front door appealing to customers “make your voice heard”.
The poster says the closure is a corporate decision and reads “we are devastated”.
In asking people to make their voices heard it also asks them to come into the agency to speak to staff.
