Another Commonwealth Bank branch will close its doors despite community and council backlash
Residents and councilors have united to fight Commonwealth Bank plans to close a local branch relied upon by the senior community.
CBA has confirmed it will close the popular Spearwood CBA branch on July 31 despite objections from Cockburn mayor Logan Howlett, who have called for the bank to reconsider its decision.
The move is part of a larger trend of bank closures triggered by the proliferation of digital banking in Australia. Bankwest, owned by CBA, completely closed all its physical locations to the internet in 2024.
CBA south central region manager Michelle Johns told PerthNow other major bank branches could accommodate displaced Spearwood customers.
“Our Success and Fremantle branches are popular banking hubs for the local community and as a result we have recently made a multimillion-dollar investment to expand our services to customers in the region,” he said.
“These are larger branches and there are more staff throughout, including home loan specialists and business bankers.
“We are committed to maintaining the largest branch network in the country and warmly welcome our Spearwood customers to our nearby branches.”
But locals don’t think this is good enough and remain concerned about older people relying on the local, more accessible branch.
Cr Philip Eva said it was “absolutely disgusting” to shut down an “essential face-to-face” banking service on Facebook that had existed for decades.
Mr Howlett wrote to CBA weeks ago expressing the council’s deep concern about the branch closure and the potential impact it would have on residents and business owners.
He requested a formal meeting with bank representatives.
PerthNow asked CBA if it would be meeting with the City of Cockburn to discuss the closure but did not receive a response to that question.
Mr Howlett said it was unfair to force “grassroots customers” to suddenly change their daily routines.
“The council’s view is that the bank should remain open. With the billions of dollars in profits reported each year by the big four banks, common sense needs to prevail,” Mr Howlett said.
“However, they fail to understand their base customers, many of whom have been customers for decades and continue to be cornered based on the concept of ‘progress’.”
The news comes as the number of bank branches across Australia continues to fall, with more than 1,500 branches set to close between 2020 and 2025.
The big banks (CBA, Westpac, NAB and ANZ) accounted for most of this, closing 98 branches between them in financial year 2025. CBA had the highest number of closures with 49, reducing its total number to 647.
The number of ATMs is also decreasing; It has decreased by almost 50 per cent across Australia since 2020.
Mr Howlett said customers of the Spearwood branch continued to reach out to him for support, especially nearby businesses and children of elderly residents.
“Many of the local businesses at Stargate Mall and the nearby Phoenix Mall in Spearwood have indicated they will be at a significant disadvantage if the closure continues,” Mayor Howlett said.
“As noted by residents and business owners, banking options continue to dwindle with the closure of all banks once operating in Phoenix Mall (the last one due in late 2025) and now the proposed closure of the Stargate Mall bank.”
The city has also predicted “major job growth” in Henderson and the Australian Maritime Complex, and Mr Howlett believes a commercial bank will be needed in the area.
Bank@Post services will continue to be available at Spearwood Australia Post, located approximately 2 km from the Spearwood branch. This is a smaller-scale banking service that allows 98 percent of cash transactions to be completed at actual bank branches.
