Are public banks the solution to regional bank closure crisis?

The Australian senate released its report on the impact bank closures have on regional residents, following a long-running inquiry.

Recommendations were derived from over 600 submissions and a series of hearings, including one held at Junee in 2023.

It includes the recommendation for investigations into a public bank, a banking code of conduct, expanding post office banking and a program to create "community bank" branches.

Hume Bank's CEO Stephen Capello submitted to the inquiry and attended the hearings at Junee.

While he was pleased the report recognises regional banking as an essential service, he said one of the more challenging recommendations is the investigation into establishing a publicly-owned bank.

"The intent is positive ... I think this also needs to be thought through so that any unintended consequences, such as destabilising the great work that many mutual banks have done for our regional communities," Mr Capello said.

Junee resident and former mayor Lola Cummins is among many who visit the town's only bank weekly.

She believes face-to-face banking is an essential service, which the report outlined in its first recommendation.

She said those in her community need the bank because online options are not accessible for some members, and the branch offers services the post office does not.

"How can a pensioner get their money to spend to pay their bills? And not everybody is computer literate," Ms Cummins said.

"We have an aging population, many of those are no longer able to do things electronically, or never have been."

She visits the Commbank Junee, a branch which the Commonwealth Bank decided to keep open until "at least the end of 2026", following community feedback.

If the bank closes, she believes Junee residents will suffer.

"There'll be a lot of very disappointed people ... it's not like these tasks stop, it's not like they're going to stop needing the bank," she said.

"I would have to go to Wagga ... and Wagga would probably be overloaded with demand."

Federal member for Riverina Michael McCormack said Commbank's response to community feedback in the past "shows the Commonwealth Bank is amenable to change if the local community demand is there".

"With support from the local community, I hope the Junee branch will stay open for many more years to come," he said.

Mr McCormack also welcomed the idea of a public bank, as recommended in report.

"I welcome the recommendation of investigating the feasibility of re-establishing a public bank, which Australia had before the Keating Labor government privatised the Commonwealth Bank, which could, at the very least, increase competition in regional markets," Mr McCormack said.

He said face-to-face banking services in regional centres should remain including the ability for people to conduct cash transactions.

"I trust the government will seriously consider these recommendations which will go a long way to shore up banking services in regional and rural communities," Mr McCormack said.

The senate committee also found the closure of major bank branches were done without proper community consultation.

"None of the major banks consult local communities before a branch closures and the impact statements are nothing more than desktop templates with minimal information about the impact of a local community of a closure," a media release from the inquiry committee said.

Major banks are to blame for the "financial desert" in many country towns, according to the chair of the Regional and Rural Affairs and Transport Committee Senator Matthew Canavan.

"The major banks have treated rural Australia with contempt in recent years. Not only have they left many communities high and dry, the banks have barely paid "lip service" to the previous commitments they made to do things better," he said.