George Fowler remembers walking into the Carnamah bank for the first time 80 years ago.
"My father gave me £100 to open an account," the 93-year-old recalled.
The retired farmer from Carnamah, a wheat farming town about three hours north of Perth, has been using the same bank ever since.
But not for much longer.
In February 2023, it will become the latest in a long list of shuttered branches across the country.
And when it closes, the next closest branch will be more than 100 kilometres away.
Over the past five years, the number of bricks and mortar banks has dropped 30 per cent and the number of ATMs has more than halved.
"A bank is a cornerstone of a town," Mr Fowler said.
"I can't imagine a town without a bank. I don't know what it's going to be like in the future."
A Westpac spokesman told 7.30 the Carnamah branch only serviced around two transactions per hour, and 96 per cent of current branch transactions could be serviced at the local Australia Post.
"Declining customer use of branches means that in some instances, we may take a difficult decision to leave a branch location, including Westpac Carnamah," said Ross Miller, Westpac's chief customer engagement officer.
"In these instances, we continue to support our customers by expanding access via Bank@Post, telephone, mobile and virtual banking."
But dozens of locals 7.30 spoke to in the town were concerned about the bank's departure.
Colleen Bennier, who owns and owns runs the town's post office, was one of them.
Ms Bennier said while she could provide withdrawal and deposit services during her opening hours on weekdays, there were shortcomings including providing change for cash floats to local businesses.
"I will do my damnedest to service our community the best way I possibly can through Australia Post guidelines, but it will not be the same as a bank," she said.
"If you lived in the city and had to drive an hour and a quarter to your ATM, everyone would be in an uproar.
"I think Westpac need to have a good look at themselves."
Federal Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones also had concerns about whether Australia Post was properly set up to service the banking needs of regional communities.
He said while he had supported the work of the Regional Banking Taskforce, which was set up by the previous government, more work was needed to ensure regional communities were not being left high and dry.
"We're looking at how the Bank@Post services are operating," he said.
"The number-one issue that I am concerned about is the access to cash and cash-handling services.
"I've been particularly moved by representations from small businesses who say they are finding it difficult to get access to cash, or to get a deposit of cash from their float.
"[While] a lot more Australians [are] using cashless transactions, in regional towns, and in some communities, cash is still king.
"We want to ensure that it can still operate as a means of exchange in those towns ... [while] also ensuring that the banks are living up to their community licence of ensuring they continue to provide service in the towns that they operate."
Carnamah Shire president Merle Isbister said it was more than the loss of an ATM.
"There's also people who would like to present to the bank to talk face to face to seek advice," she said.
"So it would basically mean that we have people who are having to travel out of town to talk to a bank manager, or to engage in a conversation about transactions on the phone with somebody who's faceless, and they don't know.
"And it also means that we have our community people having to travel in excess of 100 kilometres to go to a bank and then complete that return journey home again."
Customers moving online
Retail Banking Financial Analyst Martin North worked within the industry, and was a consultant, for more than 30 years.
He recently surveyed households and businesses about their banking needs.
"Our survey shows that a greater proportion of households in regional Australia continue to access branches for banking services – 38 per cent compared with 21 per cent in suburban areas and 18 per cent in central areas," he said.
"Many more people in regional areas access branches to pay in and withdraw cash – including a larger number of businesses, compared with suburban or central areas.
"We found that more branches in regional areas were being closed, or [had] reduced hours, with 13 per cent of households losing their last branch in the past year, compared with 2 per cent in suburban areas."
Mr North said it was a worrying trend.
"Branches remain a critical element in securing the economic future of a particular regional town, not least because digital alternatives, and other branch outlets are less available," he said.
"The removal of the last branch is essentially a death warrant on the community, as they need access to convenient cash and other services.
"Businesses in particular are at risk, which can lead to a fall in overall economic activity."
Australian Banking Association (ABA) CEO Anna Bligh said bank closures would continue to affect Australians as people rapidly switch to online banking and cashless living.
"We are seeing an acceleration out of COVID of customers voting with their feet and moving at pace into the virtual banking environment," she said.
"Nine out of 10 Australians now prefer to do their basic banking online.
"As more and more and more customers move into that virtual space, it gets harder and harder for banks to put money and resources into the bricks and mortar space.
"The big challenge for banks is to make sure that they still provide services to those people who either aren't comfortable or aren't able to do their banking online."
Ms Bligh said the ABA was working with banks to adopt the recommendations of the Regional Banking Taskforce next year.
"I think it's important not to see this [branch and ATM closures] necessarily as a saving," she said.
"What actually is happening is banks are taking the resources out of the bricks and mortar, and putting it into where their customers are – and that's the online environment.
"That environment … requires massive, multi-billion dollars of investments to make sure that it all works, but even more importantly, to make sure it's secure, that you're safe from cyber attacks, that you're safe from fraud."'
Ms Bligh said banks would continue to have some form of a bricks and mortar footprint into the future.
But for how long?
"I think the answer to that question is in the hands of customers," she said.
"As customers literally vote with their feet and jump into the online world, banks have to change with their customers," she said.
"So it will really depend on how fast customers move."
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