Residents in the Cootamundra-Gundagai and Snowy Valleys local government areas will soon have to adjust their style of banking.
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The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) plans to reduce opening hours in 90 regional locations, opening from 9.30am and closing at 1pm to allow staff to help the bank's contact centres.
Snowy Valleys mayor James Hayes, who is also a Bendigo Bank director, believes less face-to-face contact will not have a major impact on locals.
"I think it's a positive move for the Bendigo Bank - every cloud has a silver lining," Councillor Hayes said.
"We've got a point of difference - we're a community bank providing opportunities for our customers and there are managers on site that care for the community.
"It'll change the way people bank, but I'm not too worried as it's just part of change."
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Cootamundra-Gundagai mayor Abb McAlister believes older residents could be the worst hit by the changes.
"There will be ramifications for personal and business banking and especially for the older generation," he said.
"A lot of them don't use online banking and prefer to deal with someone directly.
"Many people do banking later in the afternoon so they'll have to rearrange their day to suit.
"If they're cutting their hours, people will have to adjust, but it's sad to see them doing this.
"It's disappointing as we already lost ANZ, I think banks are basically wanting the customer to do the work for them and cut staff costs."
CBA customer service network executive general manager Mark Jones said staff at local branches would still be available to help customers find the solutions that best suit their needs and that the changes were an example of the bank adapting to meet changing needs and ensuring jobs remained in regional areas.
Changes are set to start on September 13.
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