Community wants CIBC to re-think decision to close

CIBC bank representatives will face the community Thursday, June 15 from 7-9 p.m. at the Bloomfield Town Hall, to hear concerns regarding the September closure of the Bloomfield branch. There has been talk of the possibility of placing an ATM somewhere in the community, but that has not been confirmed by the bank.

Hundreds of signatures have been collected on a petition at Steve Campbell’s County Magazine office, next door to the bank, requesting CIBC to maintain current status of two tellers, three days a week, and keeping the ATM machine.

Letters have been sent to the CIBC head office from numerous sources – including Campbell, Bloomfield Business Association members and Neil Carbone, the County’s Director of Community Development.

“It’s a simple appeal, but everyone who has signed the petition has directed outright anger at the decision, plus a sense of confusion, based on the enormous activity in the branch – especially at the bank machine. During tourist season, line-ups can literally go out to the sidewalk, day and night,” said Campbell. “Moving our physical banking transactions to Picton is simply not a workable solution for our seniors, our disabled, or even our time-strapped business owners, who absolutely must do face-to-face transactions. I know ATM deposits and snapping pix of cheques on a cell phone are burgeoning technologies. I also understand this is a trend in all Canadian banks, to push people into banking online. But if you recognize the demographic of our largely senior population, they are reluctant to even use a bank machine.”

He notes some of the petition’s signers have said they will move accounts to Scotiabank in Wellington – easier to access than Picton during the locked-down traffic on Main Street in tourist season and available parking.

Carbone, in his letter, noted demographic trends, (the County surpassed one million annual visitors for the first time in 2016) and also spoke of business growth in Bloomfield and urged the company to forego the closure.

Bloomfield CIBC branch to close

MARCH 22 –

A photograph of The Canadian Bank of Commerce when it opened on Bloomfield Main in 1955 remains on the wall inside the bank.

Customers of CIBC in Bloomfield are learning the branch and instant teller machine will be gone this September.

The bank will have been located at 257 Main St., for a week short of 62 years. It opened as the Canadian Bank of Commerce on September 30, 1955. (The bank merged with the Imperial Bank of Canada in 1961 to become the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce).

A letter from Dean Chapman, District Vice-President was posted on the wall outside and available from tellers states declining business volume over a number of years.

Closing date is set for Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017.

“This decision was made after the consideration of many factors, including declining business volumes over a number of years,” said Chapman in the letter. “Your accounts will continue to be serviced from our Picton Banking Centre, approximately seven kilometres east.”

“I’m so disappointed to see this happen,” said a long-time customer reading the notice. “I arrange my business around this location and have no interest in driving to Picton, especially in the summer.”

“At very least they could have kept the instant teller machine here,” her friend added. “There’s nowhere in Bloomfield with an instant teller you don’t have to pay extra to use.”

Those with questions about the transition are invited to a community information meeting Thursday, June 15 from 7-9 p.m. at the Bloomfield Town Hall. Questions about the relocation of accounts and services are also being directed to 1-888-780-8416, or to the team at the Bloomfield bank.

Arrangements have been made to move safety deposit boxes to Picton by armoured vehicle, under CIBC supervision. If contents of your safety deposit box are fragile, you are being asked to remove those items before the move.