I was disappointed to read the article in last week’s Examiner Newspaper written by Mel Dee titled ”Decline in cash services” (The Examiner, January 25) to blame for closures of Bankwest branches in Armadale and Maddington. I don’t believe the public buy the reason given by the bank manager that there is a decline in desire for cash services.
The article includes a statement from a disgruntled Armadale customer that his branch was busy every time he went into that bank.
If there is a lack of customers then the photo taken by Richard Polden and published in the paper doesn’t support this fact as it shows two customers being served by tellers, a queue nearly out the door at the Maddington Branch and a person using the ATM.
This appears inconsistent with the manager’s statement that there are fewer than 30 over the counter transactions per branch per day.
The fact that the Bank is going solely digital and closing all branches may be the reason for the closures.
This is the future of banking as cash is being phased out.
I am not a Bankwest customer but I can sympathise with bank customers as Gosnells CBD is a bank-free zone.
Kevin Wansbrough, Gosnells
