The Stratford ANZ will close in three weeks.
Stratford's ANZ bank will close its doors for the final time in just three weeks.
An ANZ spokesperson has confirmed the bank will close the Stratford branch of the bank on Friday, April 12.
"Due to declining branch transactions, and a decision by the Stratford District Council to end the lease on the building in October, the difficult decision has been made after consulting with staff to close the ANZ Stratford branch."
The spokesperson says no redundancies are expected from the closure, with all staff having been offered the option of other roles in the Hāwera or New Plymouth ANZ branches.
The bank building was purchased by Council in 2013 and at the time stated the purchase was strategic, recognising the building formed part of the accessway to Prospero Place.
In 2017 councillors voted in favour of demolishing the building to pave the way for a larger town square. Demolition was set take place when the current lease expired in October this year.
Mayor Neil Volzke says the decision to demolish the building came about after the bank didn't seek a right of renewal in their last lease negotiation.
"The ANZ had not sought a right of renewal on their lease as far back as 2016 and their decision to withdraw is entirely their own. Councils decision to demolish the building was made with this knowledge.
"If the ANZ was genuinely wanting to stay in Stratford, alternative premises could have been found and the pending new development in that area would have been an ideal option for them."
Neil says he is pleased to hear staff have been offered alternative employment but says he is disappointed by the decision to close the branch in Stratford.
"The three big Aussie-owned banks are incredibly profitable and their profitability never seems to decline, but the services to small town New Zealand does. Over the past two years, between them they have closed almost 50 regional branches, which is evidence of withdrawal of services from our regions.
"While it doesn't make it any easier to accept, with this wave of closures across the country, today's announcement of the Stratford branch of ANZ closing has a feeling of inevitably about it.
"Thankfully we still have three other banks in town if people need access to cash handling facilities."
According to the ANZ spokesperson, ANZ Stratford has seen transactions decline by 9.7 per cent over the past year, while monthly transactions are also 38 per cent lower than the average ANZ branch.
"The declining number of in-branch transactions is in line with national and global trends. Today, the average ANZ customer uses mobile banking 1-2 times a day, and visits a branch only 1-2 times a year.
"Only 1 per cent of transactions that involve the movement of funds (deposits, withdrawals, transfers and automatic payments) are now made in branches, compared to 43 per cent in 2012.
Many Stratford customers already use other ANZ branches in the region, including the closest branch at Hāwera."
A "Smart ATM" (an ATM that accepts cash and cheque deposits) will be installed in the Stratford branch in the next few days while a permanent home in Stratford is sought for it, says the spokesperson.
"This is so our staff can show customers how the Smart ATM works, and they will also be on hand to support them in using and, if required, help them register for, our digital channels such as ANZ goMoney and Internet Banking.
Our business banking customers will have the option of a weekly cash deposit pick up and deposit service by ACM."