Closures in the south

The death of banks in Burgenland continues

With the expansion of the head office in Oberwart, Raiffeisenbezirksbank Oberwart is closing four branches.

(Bild: Christian Schulter/Christian schulter)

ATM cards instead of cash, online banking instead of customer advisors: many customers now carry out their banking transactions online. The digital age is also having an increasing impact on the branch network in Burgenland. Raiffeisen to close four branches in southern Burgenland at the end of August

A new wave of bank closures is now looming in southern Burgenland. With over 41,000 customers and ten branches, Raiffeisenbezirksbank Oberwart is the largest financial institution in southern Burgenland. The renovation of the main branch in Oberwart was only completed in June. More than 3 million euros were invested and the bank branch was expanded to 3000 square meters of floor space. Not entirely without reservations, as bank customers in particular are now criticizing the current savings plans.

The Raiffeisenbezirksbank Oberwart site was expanded by more than 3 million euros.

(Bild: Christian Schulter/Christian schulter)

Four banks will be closed on August 23
On August 23, Raiffeisen will close its branches in Bernstein, Stadtschlaining, Unterwart and Kohfidisch. Raiffeisen's branch network in the Oberwart district has been reduced by 13 branches since 2017. "Regulators and legal requirements are constantly increasing and are extremely difficult to implement in small bank branches. In addition, the high training standards prescribed by law can only be implemented with a great deal of time and high costs, which calls into question the profitability of micro banks," says Karl Kornhofer, CEO of Raiffeisenbezirksbank Oberwart.

Even if banks are merged, employees are not affected by redundancies.

Karl Kornhofer, Vorstandsdirektor der Raiffeisenbezirksbank Oberwart

The criticism of the closure is understandable. Despite the new situation for customers of the affected bank branches, the aim is to make it easy to switch to other branches. "The employees will be deployed in neighboring bank branches and will continue to be available to their customers as advisors," explains Kornhofer. In addition, customers who are not mobile will be offered a free shuttle service once a month to take them to the nearest bank branch and back home again.

Until the end of 2028, the cash supply is secured by the existing ATMs in the affected municipalities.

(Bild: Schulter Christian)

ATMs will remain in place despite branch closures
According to the bank boss, it is particularly important for customers that the cash supply from the existing ATMs is secured for the next five years.

Mayors criticize despite understanding
The death of the banks is viewed critically by the mayors concerned. The unanimous tenor is that they are powerless. "Unfortunately, arguments that a bank is an important local supplier and contributes to social life don't count either," criticizes Kohfidisch's mayor Norbert Suljok. The head of Unterwart, Hannes Nemeth, is of the same opinion and speaks of another low blow in his municipality. "After the closure of Kika and the departure of Hervis, now the bank too. For us as a municipality, this means less income and less service for the population," says the head of the municipality. 

The bank branch in Unterwart will remain the property of Raiffeisen and will be used for smaller internal events in the future.

(Bild: Schulter Christian)

There is no point in protesting, says Renate Habetler, head of Bernstein, because centralization cannot be stopped.

Signature campaigns have also achieved nothing
Thousands of signatures have already been collected this year in Stegersbach, where people tried to protest against the closure of the Erste Bank branch - but to no avail. The branch was closed at the end of May.