BRISBANE, March 11, 2026, 08:05 AEST
ANZ Group said on Tuesday it will reopen its Chinchilla branch in regional Queensland in the second half of 2026, a rare expansion of face-to-face banking by a major Australian lender. The move comes before the town’s Suncorp Bank agency shuts permanently on May 29. 1
The timing matters because regional banking has turned politically sensitive in Australia. Canberra said in February 2025 that 36% of regional bank branches had closed since 2017 and secured commitments that stop regional branch closures at the major banks until July 31, 2027. 2
For ANZ, the decision also goes to the promises made around its Suncorp deal. The bank completed its A$4.9 billion purchase of Suncorp Bank in July 2024 to deepen its Queensland presence, and Treasurer Jim Chalmers approved the takeover with legally binding conditions that barred regional ANZ and Suncorp branch closures for three years and required Suncorp’s Queensland branch count to stay unchanged over the same period. 3
Bruce Rush, ANZ’s managing director for Queensland and Suncorp Bank chief executive, said customers still needed “face-to-face service” and described the reopening as proof “ANZ is here”. The branch is due to operate five days a week and support households, farmers and small businesses. 1
Rush said the Suncorp Bank agency in Chinchilla will close because the bank could not secure new premises that met operational requirements. ANZ said it would work with local Suncorp customers through the transition. 1
The decision goes against a longer slide in physical banking networks. APRA, Australia’s prudential regulator, said bank branches nationwide fell 4.6% between June 2024 and June 2025, though regional and remote areas recorded their smallest decline since the data series began, partly because of the government’s pause on regional closures. 4
ANZ, Australia’s fourth-largest lender, is also trying to show investors it can simplify the bank without losing ground in places it wants to grow. In February it posted first-quarter cash profit, its preferred measure excluding some large one-off items, of A$1.94 billion, up 17% on the prior half’s quarterly average, and Citigroup analyst Thomas Strong said the beat reflected “faster than expected progress on costs.” 5
But the clean-up has brought friction. Reuters reported in January that ANZ was cutting roles across Suncorp Bank divisions, prompting the Finance Sector Union to question whether the lender could meet promises made when the takeover was approved. ANZ said it would keep its regional branch and employment commitments. 6
Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and NAB are also covered by the federal government’s regional banking commitments through July 2027. ANZ’s move therefore lands in the same spotlight as any branch change by the country’s other major lenders. 2
The immediate uncertainty is timing. The Suncorp agency is due to close in late May, while the ANZ branch is not slated to reopen until the second half of 2026, leaving a transition window that will test how smoothly the bank can shift local customers as it folds Suncorp more deeply into the group. 1
