NAB shuts Kununurra branch amid decline in in-person banking

It’s been two years coming but NAB has announced it will permanently close its branch in Kununurra - but they are hoping to keep their ATM in town.

NAB temporarily closed its branch on Ebony Street in September 2022 citing staff shortages leaving the Commonwealth Bank as the only place in Kununurra to do face-to-face banking.

Now NAB has announced the branch will be closed permanently saying there had been a, “significant decline,” of customers using the branch, with transactions decreasing by 65 per cent in the three years prior to 2022.

NAB retail executive regional WA, Kylie Sanders said it was a difficult decision to close the branch permanently.

“The decision to close a branch is never easy and we are working with the Kununurra community to continue to support their banking needs.

“More than 80 percent of our Kununurra customers are active users of the mobile app and online banking.

“Over the past two years we’ve seen our customers who want to continue to bank in-person do this at the local Bank@Post at the Kununurra Post Shop on Coollibah Drive.

“Customers can continue to use nearby ATMs from other banks, with no fees.”

Although the branch will shut, NAB said it hoped to find a new location for its ATM which is one of only four, fee-free machines in town belonging to the major banks.

The branch will permanently close on February 11 next year.

NAB bankers will be in Kununurra next month to help customers set up for the change.

The information and support sessions will be on December 3 and December 5 between 9.30am and 12.30 pm at the Ebony Street branch. Cash services at the bank will not be available at this time.

An NAB statement said that in 2022 at the Kununurra branch there were 129 personal bank customers and 48 business clients who visited the branch three times or more that year.

Since the branch shut many of those customers have gone to the post office to deposit or withdraw cash through bank@post. Last year there were 2,010 bank@post transactions by NAB customers in Kununurra.

Customers can use bank@post to deposit up to $9,999, cheque deposits up to $999,999.99 and withdraw up to $2,000 per day.

However, if customers want to deposit or withdraw even larger sums of cash or close a business account they will need drive to Darwin or Broome more than 1000km away.

The NAB announcement follows Bankwest’s closure of its Kununurra branch in April as part of a wave of closure closures across WA due to dwindling customer numbers.