Banking options in Port Fairy will soon be down to one with the Commonwealth Bank announcing it will pull out of the town.
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The Port Fairy Commonwealth Bank branch in Sackville Street will close its doors for good on July 30.
This comes on the back of the ANZ announcing it will close its Port Fairy branch on August 25.
The pile-on to close bank branches in the town began in July 2018, when the National Australia Bank shut its doors.
When the ANZ bank calls it a day in August, the Port Fairy and District Community Bank will be the last bank standing in the seaside town.
Commonwealth Bank regional manager David Castle said the decision to close the branch was made after a review showed face-to-face numbers using the facility had dropped dramatically.
"This branch has had a 46 per cent drop in transactions over the past five years," Mr Castle said.
"We've ensured customers who prefer over-the-counter service still have access to this option. For Port Fairy customers, we have other branches in the region at Warrnambool.
"We've found that 21 per cent of customers from Port Fairy are already visiting this branch."
Mr Castle said there would be no job losses as a result of the closure, with staff from Port Fairy to be redeployed within the bank's network.
The Commonwealth Bank has placed the COVID pandemic at the forefront of the reasons for its move to close more bank branches and channel more business activity online.
Data from the bank shows branch visitor numbers nationally have fallen 22 per cent in the last year, with some branches seeing that number climb above 50 per cent. The bank claims its older customers are beginning to embrace online services and have become more engaged in this form of banking. Comparisons made in 2020 to pre-pandemic figures showed more than twice the amount of customers over 60 were now regular using online services.
