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As banks close their branches across the country, Aussie “unicorn” fintech company Zeller is bridging the gap left behind by bank closures for small regional businesses.
Zeller, having recently cracked a $1 billion valuation, says regional small businesses are rapidly taking up its EFTPOS technology.
Zeller’s Director of Growth Joshua McNicol revealed that regional small business owners make up nearly half their customer base as they turn their backs on major banks.
“It’s dissatisfaction with the incumbents,” Director McNicol said.
“We’re seeing one in three ATMs being shut down and hundreds of bank branches closing since the onset of the pandemic.”
The Australian Government has set up the Regional Banking Taskforce to investigate just how closures affect rural economies.
Meanwhile, Zeller surveyed 420 of its regional customers and found 81 per cent experienced worse customer service from major banks after a local branch closed.
Communities claimed that losing a bank can be the death of a small town, as people spend their money in larger regional centres when they travel to do their banking.
However, Director McNicol said there was optimism in regional business.
“This appetite for adoption of new technology is keeping that money within towns,” he said, claiming that this sentiment was strengthened by a partnership with Why Leave Town, a rural gift card organisation that encouraged local spending.
Founded in rural NSW after the millennium drought, Why Leave Town says it has added $12 million to economies across 70 country communities.
Zeller’s broader research has also found that 67 per cent of its merchants don’t want to use major banks.
Geelong caterer Tolga Biyik said dealing with a bank while trying to start his own business was messy and slow, so he set up a Zeller payment system two days before catering for his first local market.
Instagram and social media videos are an essential part of marketing in regional areas, so much so that he’s got a dedicated fanbase.
“A woman came up to me and asked if she could get a photo with me and she said, ‘My sister will be so jealous,’” Mr Biyik said.
“Then her sister messaged me on Instagram saying, ‘I’m shattered I wasn’t there’. I loved it. It was a big head moment, but I loved it because it was that Geelong vibe.”
This article was first published on Public Spectrum
Eliza Sayon is an experienced writer who specialises in corporate and government communications. She is the content producer for Public Spectrum, an online knowledge-based platform for and about the Australian public sector.
