KIRCHBERG/Sankt JOHANN/KLEINZELL. As soon as you enter Kirchberg, the visitor is greeted by three large-format, light-blue posters promoting a Raiffeisen competitor as the better choice for personal banking. The reason for this campaign is the closure plans of the Raiffeisenbank Region Neufelden for the bank branches in St. Johann, Kleinzell and Kirchberg. After a corresponding OÖN report at the beginning of the year, protests against the “thinning of the local local supply” formed. On Tuesday, CEO Franz Erlinger answered questions from citizens in Kirchberg.
Minimum stage win
The protest, which was particularly massive in Kirchberg and St. Johann, has at least partially paid off: in the next two years, the counter service in Kirchberg, St. Johann and Kleinzell will be maintained one morning a week. Because a year should still be open in the usual form anyway, it is a net concession of 26 working days, as a citizen calculated.
The mayors agreed on this compromise solution with the management of the Raiffeisen Region Neufelden on Monday. “We want to listen to the clear signals from customers and co-owners and will maintain cash counter service at all three bank branches at least one morning a week,” announced Franz Erlinger at the discussion evening on Tuesday evening in Kirchberg. There should also be “high-quality self-service equipment for withdrawing cash, for transfers and account statements”. And: “The trusted adviser can also be reached by phone at almost any time.” After two years, they want to evaluate and look at the need again. The municipalities are not really satisfied with this solution: Kirchberg’s mayor Franz Hofer: “The demand for the preservation of the Kirchberg bank branch in its current form was the top priority. That doesn’t seem realistic. That’s why we have to settle for the minimal variant. But after two years, I would like a fair evaluation and not that the framework is too narrow.” Albert Stürmer, Mayor of St. Johann, hopes that a clever solution can emerge from the counter morning. He believes that visiting the bank counter could even become more attractive again due to increasing internet skepticism.”
“Local supply is dying”
Thursday morning has already been selected as the opening day for Kleinzell. In Kirchberg and St. Johann, the Raiffeisenbank will continue to run eleven hours a week for another year, and one morning a week for another year. Above all, the citizens fear that the closure will only be delayed: “This radical step does not have to be. We don’t need any special advice on site. But Raiffeisen could still afford our two ladies at the counters in the future. Locking up is unfair. For years we always paid well and the bank was important to us as part of the local supply,” rumbled innkeeper and butcher Johann Höglinger, who is known as a fervent advocate of local supply.
Erlinger countered that the decision to close the bank was of a strategic and not an economic nature. And yet you also have to secure the economic future: “We are an economically healthy bank and want to stay that way, but these are challenging times in the financial sector. We are a commercial enterprise and not a charitable association,” said the CEO in no uncertain terms.
The fact that the posters at the entrance to the town could have an effect is also accepted. “The switching behavior has increased in recent years. But that applies in both directions,” said Erlinger. Of course, one has to accept that many a disappointed customer could switch to a competitor.
Branch network streamlining in the district
Incidentally, the streamlining of the branch network in the Raiffeisen region of Rohrbach has taken place these days without any major protests. The Schwarzenberg, Klaffer and Julbach branches were incorporated into the new headquarters in Ulrichsberg. (fur)
Source: Nachrichten
