General News
14 March, 2025
NAB branch invests locally
The local NAB branch can trace its lineage back 170 years in the town with the latest refurb, completed over the long weekend, showing they don’t intend on going anywhere.
The local NAB branch’s refurb, which turns the aging building into a more inviting space for locals, aims to show the town NAB is committed to Maryborough.
Branch manager, Emily Grogan, said community members ask if they are going to close almost daily. A sentiment likely shaped by various bank’s closing branches both in Maryborough and in other regional areas.
“It’s showing our community we’re still going to be here for a long time,” she said.
According to a 1956 article in The Advertiser, Maryborough’s NAB branch can trace its current location back to the same year, however they can trace their history under various names through to 1855 and the first bank established in Maryborough — 11 months after the town first got its name.
The small team at the local branch have become familiar and important faces to those who bank there.
Tara Hartley, central Victorian retail customer executive, said face-to-face banking remains important to their customers.
“While digital banking is undoubtedly our customer’s preferred choice for everyday transactions, face-to-face service remains critically important for many significant moments in our customer’s lives,” she said.
“Whether that’s buying their first home, opening their kid’s first bank account, they want to be able to have that touch point with their local bankers.”
Ms Grogan said that’s reflected locally in the broad range of customers that frequent the bank.
“We’ve got elderly customers coming in because they’ve done it their whole life. We’ve got young people coming in … to talk to us about their goals. We have a really broad range of people in Maryborough,” she said.
But in an aging community such as Maryborough it’s the trust built through face-to-face interactions that’s especially important according to Ms Hartley.
“Especially in such uncertain times, scams are huge, in those uncertain moments it’s so nice to come in to see a face you know to get that reassurance,” she said.
In 2023, Ms Grogan saved a customer from an “elaborate” $10,000 scam due to their familiarity with each other.
The team at NAB’s Maryborough branch hope to continue helping the community wherever they can, now with their newly updated building.
