Oatley residents claim they have been "abandoned" by the major banks following the news that the Commonwealth Bank will close its local branch next month.
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The closure ends almost 100 years of a Commonwealth Bank presence in Oatley.
The news follows the announcement that Westpac is closing its Ramsgate branch on November 15.
The Frederick Street, Oatley branch of the Commonwealth Bank will close its doors on Friday, November 29, after more than 60 years at the site serving the local community.
The closure leaves Oatley without a local bank and comes 12 months after the closure of the St George Bank.
The village also had a Westpac branch until a few years ago.
A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson confirmed the closure, adding that transactions at the branch had dropped 36 per cent over the past five years.
"We understand some customers may be concerned, so want to assure them that during the six week transition period, our branch team are on hand to help familiarise them with all the existing banking options available," the spokesperson said.
"Closing a branch is never an easy decision. We only do so after careful consideration of customer demand and the availability of alternative sources.
"We have four nearby branches at Mortdale, Hurstville, Riverwood and Roselands."
The news was greeted with dismay and anger by Oatley residents.
Cliff Crane who meets with a group of friends every Friday night at the Oatley RSL Club said they are angry at the branch closure.
"My 'Friday night mates' vote it as a disgusting abandonment of our village," Mr Crane said.
"There was a feeling of deep disappointment at how the banks are abandoning the wishes of their individual customers.
"Over a few years all of our three banks have thumbed their noses at us. Progress? Banks don't care about the human cost."
Ron Bell, a long time Oatley resident, now of the shire, and a customer of the Commonwealth Bank Oatley for over 50 years,said he got the information second-hand from someone who'd seen the notice at the bank.
"They didn't even write to tell me," he said.
Mr Crane, who is a vice-president of the Oatley Heritage and Historical Society said records show that a Commonwealth Bank agency was established at the local Post Office in 1922 and the branch has been operation in Frederick Street for over 60 years.
The 'I Grew Up in Mortdale' Facebook site announced the closure last week provoking many angry comments: "Plenty of unhappy Oatley residents after news broke last week that the last remaining bank in Oatley, the Commonwealth Bank will be closing its doors for good on Friday 29th November, 2019. The closure comes exactly 12 months after the Happy Dragon at St. George Bank announced the Oatley Branch was going to pull up stumps and close permanently at the end of November last year (30 Nov 2018).
"The closure is most certainly going to inconvenience many elderly residents who don't use online services, including the inability to have human contact with our banks!."
Lisa Scott posted: "Absolutely disgraceful what the banks are doing to our suburbs. Small business has its back against the wall. The banks are basically encouraging people to go to major centres.....a lot of people don't have that luxury."
Christine Bissett posted, "They all talk about customer service but looks like they don't care."
Nichole Williams said," It's going to be sad having the elderly be forced to cross the border into the neighbouring Mortdale just to get to a bank."
Paul Camilleri said, "Very sad. Profit before people, until there are no people."
Westpac has also announced that it will close its Ramsgate branch of Friday, November 15.
The closure is due to a "significant decline" in customer transactions at the Ramsgate branch, a Westpac spokesperson said.
"In response to changes in the way our customers are choosing to bank, we have made a decision to close the Ramsgate Branch," the spokesperson said.
"The branch will cease trading on Friday 15 November. After the closure of Westpac Ramsgate, the Westpac branch at Rockdale 3.7 kilometres will take over management of our customers' banking.
"Customers can also take advantage of Westpac's partnership with Australia Post, which is located 800m from the Ramsgate branch.
"Customers who prefer over the counter transactions can perform everyday banking transactions such as checking account balances, paying credit card bills, and making deposits and withdrawals via the Bank@Post service. Local businesses can also deposit cash via Bank@Post Rockdale, up to $7000 per day."
"Over the past few years, we've experienced a significant decline in customers transactions undertaken at our Westpac Ramsgate branch, as more and more customers are choosing other ways to bank, for example digital banking," the spokesperson said.
"Any decision on branch closures it is not a decision we take lightly. We take a number of factors into consideration, including usage, location, proximity to other services and community needs. As a group, we currently have more than 4.6 million digitally active customers, and in the past 12 months, less than two per cent of transactions were through our branch network, as an increasing number of customers enjoy the convenience of our online and mobile banking services.
"There are seven other Westpac branches within 10km of our Ramsgate branch - Kogarah (2.3km), Hurstville (4.4km), Kingsgrove (6.7km), Sylvania (7.0km), Mortdale (7.1km), Caringbah (7.8km) and Miranda (8.2km).
"We are finding that the branches that are in more centralised key shopping areas are seeing more foot traffic compared to others."
