ABA CEO interview with Win News’ Bonnie Collings on regional banking

E&OE
TV Interview
Interview on Win News
8 October 2026

Topics: Regional banking

Bonnie Collings: Can you give a bit of an overview of what the ABA have put forward to the ACCC?

Simon Birmingham: We’re asking the ACCC to allow banks to cooperate on three things. Firstly, regional service commitments that will be banks explaining how they’re going to keep services available to regional Australia. Secondly, a trial of banking hubs, which will be about providing up to 10 new banking services, face-to-face services in towns that don’t have a branch at all. And thirdly, a funding model for how that sort of shared infrastructure can be delivered. All of this is about recognising that although people are using bank branches a whole lot less nowadays, they do still value having access to face-to-face services. So how do we make that viable in a world where the old bank branch model is under some strain?

Bonnie Collings: Has anything like this ever happened before in Australia or anywhere to your knowledge?

Simon Birmingham: There are models that we’ve looked at overseas, and the UK and New Zealand both have these sorts of shared hub services as models that we are looking closely at, where we can replicate and learn from. We also really value the Bank@Post network across Australia Post, where banks already provide access to cash and deposit and withdrawal services in a range of centres that may not have a bank branch and we see there could be some potential to build on that as one part of the trial of these hubs as well.

Bonnie Collings: What would the hubs look like in practice if this was to go ahead?

Simon Birmingham: So, what we’re looking at in trialling the hubs is a couple of different models. Some of them may look very much like a bank branch, except rather than being branded for a particular bank, people will be able to walk in and get face-to-face assistance with some basic banking services and needs from an individual who can help them across a range of different banks. For communities that don’t have any bank branch at present, it means they might have access indeed to more banks than their neighbouring town or community. But we also want to trial that model as to how it could work in a Bank@Post post office situation or a local council, actually using local delivery partners to see whether that ends up being a better way of doing this or more accessible to local communities.

Bonnie Collings: Obviously, there’d be some staff there to talk about issues like maybe scamming? I know that’s a big issue that people kind of want to see someone face to face. Would there also be ATM facilities?

Simon Birmingham: We certainly expect cash to be available, and that cash and even coins for local small businesses we hope to make available with a person there who can provide assistance. So, that if somebody isn’t really comfortable using an ATM or isn’t comfortable with internet banking, there’s a real live person providing face-to-face assistance for them to navigate those technologies and get the same type of banking outcomes that many people are otherwise doing at home using the digital technologies that have seen such huge uptake in recent years.

Bonnie Collings: Yeah, awesome, and I think it would be particularly beneficial for farming communities where there isn’t that digital connection, or the Wi-Fi is not very strong, and you sort of become a bit dependent on the old-school model. What are you seeing from your point of view about bank branch closures in regional communities? It’s an issue that we sort of are seeing everywhere, but how are people being impacted?

Simon Birmingham: Well, we’ve certainly seen a decline over a longish period in terms of regional branch numbers, but there are still some 1450 regional bank branches across Australia, and moratoriums in place from Australia’s largest banks, some of which stretch out a number of years. So that is providing some certainty that those branches that are there are largely going to continue to be there. But we recognise that model is under strain. The use of bank branches, the number of interactions and transactions has declined by more than 60 per cent. People don’t go into a branch like they used to, they don’t use it like they used to, and that puts pressure on the viability of those branches. Which is why we’re testing and wanting to test new models, these banking hubs and to see whether there is a more cost-effective way of keeping face-to-face assistance, in-person assistance in regional communities.

Bonnie Collings: How would the costing side of it work in terms of shared infrastructure in these hubs?

Simon Birmingham: That’s really something that we need the ACCC’s approval to really flesh out, as to how those costs work. There are some examples where banks already cooperate under an authorisation to provide some shared ATM facilities and those sorts of models operate on a combination of fixed costs and then per-transaction costs. The fixed costs might be shared under a formula between banks, and then the per-transaction literally just relates to how much your bank’s customers might actually use those services and picking up those transaction costs from there.

Bonnie Collings: Could you give a little bit more detail of why something like this is needed in terms of the future where we’re looking towards? You started to talk on it a bit before, but if you wouldn’t mind just expanding a little bit.

Simon Birmingham: So, the world of banking is changing right around the globe. Australia is not the only place where people have shifted away from a lot of in-person banking to using digital solutions. More than 99 per cent of transactions now happen digitally and online, and the number of transactions happening in bank branches has plummeted by more than 60 per cent. That’s a huge change and puts real pressure on the viability of those old bank branch models, particularly when we see many digital-only banks also delivering services and winning customers over who’ve never actually had a branch and don’t operate those networks. So, we do need to consider new models, because we recognise that even though people might have shifted away en masse from using bank branches, there are vulnerable customers or people at times of vulnerability who really still want access to face-to-face in-person assistance. This is about trying to guarantee that in-person assistance will be available in the future, and that people can have confidence, especially in regional Australia, if they need help face to face with their banking problems, they can get it in reasonable proximity to where they live.

Bonnie Collings: Awesome! Thank you so much for that. That was a really good snapshot. One last one to wrap it up. If you do get the authorisation from the ACCC, what comes next? How long will it take, or when can we expect to sort of see something happening in this space?

Simon Birmingham: We’re hopeful that the ACCC will move as quickly as they can through the legal processes, and that that will enable us to, before the end of the year, start having some detailed conversations about how and where this will actually happen. So that by some time next year we can start to roll out what the commitments look like and what the hubs actually look like and the locations of the hubs, and really get this up and running over the next year or so as a proper trial, where we can then evaluate how much these services get used, what model works best, so we can consider how they might work into an enduring, longer-term solution for regional banking.

Bonnie Collings: Amazing! Thank you so much for chatting with me today. This is a really interesting topic and I think it would have a lot of benefits if it was to roll out. So, I appreciate your time and your expertise.

Simon Birmingham: No probs. Happy to help. Thank you, all the best.

Ends