ASenate sub-committee is holding a public hearing into bank closures in regional areas at Kingston tomorrow (Wednesday).

The Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Standing Committee will hear a number of submissions from the likes of Kingston District Council and the Coorong District 
Council.

The committee is headed by former cabinet minister Matt Canavan and commences deliberations at 9am at the Lacepede Bay Motel on the foreshore.

Member for Barker Tony Pasin is expected to attend.

The location of the hearing is not coincidental as the BankSA branch at Kingston was slated for closure by parent company Westpac a year ago.

The closure would have left Kingston without a bank and forced its residents to make the 200+ km round trip to either Millicent or Naracoorte for face-to-face banking services.

However, Westpac postponed the planned closures of Kingston and seven of its branches across regional Australia pending the outcome of the inquiry.

BankSA has closed six of its branches south of the River Murray in the past 15 years citing declining patronage and a customer preference for on-line banking.

They were formerly located at Robe, Meningie, Tailem Bend, Keith, Penola and Tintinara.

The other “Big Four” banks have also reduced their staffed branches in this region in recent years.