Commonwealth Bank sent a letter to all its Kaniva customers on Thursday to inform them the branch would shut its doors on June 23.

Committee members of the town’s LINK Neighbourhood House met to discuss the closure this week.

Member Karen Rabone said the committee was extremely disappointed.

“It’s about the eroding of our country towns,” she said.

“It all came out of the blue and it will close in 10 weeks – it’s not long.”

In the letter to customers, the bank said residents could use branches at Nhill or Bordertown.

Mrs Rabone said residents relied on the service.

“Older people especially need the bank,” she said.

“It’s not easy for them to get to Nhill or Bordertown.

“We can use the post office for some banking but this is more about small towns losing these important services.”

Mrs Rabone said the committee would raise the issue with Member for Mallee Andrew Broad.

“That’s the next step – I’m not sure what he can do, but it’s worth raising it,” she said.

“There has been a lot of talk in parliament lately about banks looking after their customers, yet they are still taking away services from country towns.”

A Commonwealth Bank spokesman said the company regularly reviewed its branch footprint.

“The decision to close this branch was not an easy one and we understand some members of the community might be disappointed,” he said.

“We have identified that fewer customers use this branch following a steady decline in transactions as they choose to use other banking channels like online and mobile.

“Over the past five years, we’ve seen a 45 per cent decline in the number of transactions at our Kaniva branch.

“From the June 23, customers in the area can complete banking transactions at the Australia Post outlet located 150 metres away.”

The ATM will remain.