Senate inquiry on regional bank closures moves to Launceston

The rural not-for-profit representative group is scheduled to argue its case before a Senate committee inquiring into regional bank closures when it visits Launceston on Tuesday.

Tasmanian Women in Agriculture chairwoman Deb Morice in a submission to the committee said the obligation to provide financial services to regional communities could be shared across the four major banks.

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She said at the very least, fee-free ATMs that could do cash withdrawals and deposits should be placed in areas when a bank branch closed.

"Bank closures can be the death knell for rural communities." Ms Morice said.

"The online consolidation of the banking sector may be inevitable, but it should be a managed process to cause the least distribution to regional and rural communities.

"Banks should be required to act in the best interests of their clients and not just shareholders and their executives."

Representatives from the Circular Head, George Town and Flinders Island councils are listed to appear at Tuesday's hearing.

The Circular Head Council in its submission to the committee said the ability to attend a bank branch was vital for large and small rural businesses.

"Our farmers and other businesses go to the bank for bank cheques for large transactions, interstate transaction and sale of business transactions," it said.

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"These are core business activities and the inability to transact face-to-face, where online connectivity is poor, is a major service provision failure."

It said while it was acknowledged that a post office could provide some of the facilities otherwise available through a bank, it should not be considered as a replacement for a bank branch.

Representatives of MyState Bank, the Tasmanian Small Business Council and the Multicultural Council of Tasmania will appear at the Senate committee hearing on Tuesday.

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