Locals in Coober Pedy are buying safes and are scared of being robbed while driving long distances to make major deposits, after the closure of the town's only bank.
It comes as other regional communities in South Australia — and around the country — wait to see if they will keep their banks, ahead of a Senate inquiry into regional branch closures.
Coober Pedy's Westpac branch closed for good last Friday.
The Far North town is an opal-mining mecca, with large sums of money often exchanged in cash.
Just $7,000 in cash can now be deposited a day at the local post office, and $2,000 withdrawn.
David Kelly, chief executive of the District Council of Coober Pedy, said that wasn't good enough.
"They can't deposit the money over a certain thousand dollars … I do know of businesses that have bought safes," Mr Kelly said.
He said people would now have to travel to Port Augusta — more than 500 kilometres and five hours drive away — to deposit larger sums of cash.
"But they're feeling pretty anxious about being pulled over on the road and robbed, especially when people realise that's what's going to have to happen," he said.
Last week, Westpac announced it would halt the closure of eight regional branches under its banner, pending the findings of the Senate inquiry.
The Commonwealth Bank has also halted regional branch closures while the inquiry takes place.
Mr Kelly said he had hoped in vain that Coober Pedy's bank would be added to Westpac's list of branch closures put on hold.
"I think their decision to go ahead and close was made a while ago, despite a lot of lobbying to the bank and members of parliament," Mr Kelly said.
Branch closure shared in email to 'Mr Bean'
Kingston's BankSA branch — owned by Westpac — is one of the eight regional Westpac branches with closures now on hold.
Kingston District Council is preparing a submission for the Senate inquiry into regional bank closures, in the hope that BankSA will permanently reverse its decision to close the local branch.
Chief executive Nat Traeger said the council was notified on February 6 that the local BankSA branch would close in May of this year.
"We were given no prior warning at all, and no courtesy phone call either, from any of the BankSA representatives. It came through our generic email address," Ms Traeger said.
"It was actually addressed 'Dear Mr Bean'. I don't know who Mr Bean is but it's not me."
Ms Traeger said she was later notified by BankSA of the suspended closure by phone.
"It's actually the first time that we've directly heard from any BankSA representative over the matter," Ms Traeger said.
"It gives me a bit more time to hold my breath and gather some intel from the community to inform our Senate inquiry submission that we're preparing."
Ms Traeger said the closure would have major implications.
"We've been advised that there's some 1,200 local customers that use that branch. That's quite a proportion of our ratepayer and population," Ms Traeger said.
"We also have an ageing population. So they're not as tech savvy as some of us. So they certainly rely on that."
"Also, we don't have a bank with high cash holdings other than BankSA. So for those businesses that need cash and change, that will also be an issue."
Council will hold a community meeting on March 15 to gather as much information for their submission as possible.
In the interim, Ms Traeger has urged locals to stick with BankSA.
"Because that'll be the best outcome for the whole community, to hang in there in the hope that the branch doesn't close … now more than ever, it needs that community support to keep it open," Ms Traeger said.
Westpac, which also operates BankSA, says it is looking forward to working with the inquiry into regional banking services.
"Westpac will postpone eight regional branch closures that were announced in February 2023," a spokesperson said.
"No further decisions on regional closures will be made while we engage with the inquiry."
It also said it would continue a branch co-location program which brings two branches and customer service teams together under one roof.
Calls to reverse five years worth of closures
Federal Member for Barker, in SA's south east, Tony Pasin wants more than just a hold on bank closures.
He wants the last five years of regional bank closures across the country reversed.
"People in the cities don't understand … we're shining a light on this issue and quite frankly, I think what we've done is effectively embarrassed banking executives into having another think," he said, of the inquiry.
"I think the right thing is for banks to realise that there is an obligation, effectively a universal service obligation, to do the right thing by rural Australians."
State Greens MLC Robert Simms agreed and said banks should be held to account.
"I'm urging these banks to reconsider their decision to shut down these branches," Mr Simms said.
"That's something that I'm looking at, is what can we do to try and ensure that we bring these big institutions to heel.
"These are institutions that are raking in billions and billions of dollars, of course they can afford to keep these branches open."
