Kiwibank has turned down an invitation to open a branch in Milton.
Clutha District Mayor Bryan Cadogan said he approached Kiwibank after ANZ announced a proposal to close its Milton branch, the last bank in the South Otago town of 2000.
Mr Cadogan said he asked Kiwibank whether it would be keen either to take over the ANZ branch or move in to another premises.
The request seems to have fallen flat for similar reasons to those ANZ cited for its its planned branch closure.
In a letter to Mr Cadogan, Kiwibank retail distribution general manager Tracey Berry said the bank could not be in every location in New Zealand.
"The challenge of rapidly falling numbers of transactions across the counter is very real," she said.
She acknowledged many older people did not use internet banking and it was no comfort to them to have no bank.
Digital servicing adoption continued to grow rapidly and she was "pleasantly surprised" at the uptake of technology by older people.
A decision on the proposal to shut the ANZ Milton branch in November is expected later this month.
Mr Cadogan said there were still other options he could pursue to ensure Milton still had a bank, but he said it seemed the ANZ’s plans were set in stone.
He was waiting to hear back from the Government to see if it could do something about the "widespread issue" with banks closing branches in rural communities.
ANZ also said this week it would likely close its Waimate branch in November.
First Union national organiser finance Tali Williams said she had been assured by ANZ Waimate’s would be the last branch to close "in this big swathe of branch closures that have been proposed over the last month or so".
"We haven’t had such assurances before, so it is good news."
Last week Westpac confirmed 19 branches, including Ranfurly, the Gardens, in North Dunedin, and Te Anau would close.
