Heather Hogan
Two of the four banks operating in Yeoville are leaving because of crime and a lack of investment from local businesses, increasing the isolation of the already struggling suburb and its various communities.
Nedbank is closing its Yeoville branch on May 31 and Standard Bank will follow on June 9, leaving residents and staff facing an uncertain future.
It’s the latest blow to Yeoville, a suburb not far from the city centre whose former lively, liberal reputation has been battered in recent years by crime, an unregulated influx of hawkers and the inability of prospective middle-income homebuyers to obtain bonds, with unscrupulous landlords turning small flat blocks into tenements.
“I think the banks are closing because of crime,” said a security guard wishing to remain anonymous. “It will be terrible for the residents here, especially the old people.”
He said he had rescued customers from ATM gangsters in the past, risking his life in the process, and claims many people are robbed at the ATMs after he leaves his post at night and before he arrives in the morning. “When the bank is closed and I am gone, robbers will be able to make a permanent living out of robbing customers at these ATMs.”
A resident said the banks’ withdrawal is another burden for Yeoville’s residents, who have been unable to sell their homes, partly because potential buyers struggle to obtain bonds in what they allege are red-lining tactics used by some of the banks operating in the area.
An estate agency has noticed it is almost impossible to get a bond in the area because of red-lining practices.
Peter Kaye-Eddie of the Kaye- Eddie Estate Agency said banks aren’t direct about red-lining but claim they are “over- committed in the area” and can’t issue any more bonds. Agency member Teresa van Wyk said as a result she doesn’t sell in Yeoville anymore, unless she can find a cash buyer.
Although representatives for Absa and First National Bank claim they have no intention of leaving Yeoville, the word on the street is that First National may be the next to pull out.
Nedbank’s Yeoville accounts will be transferred to Killarney, while Standard Bank will transfer its accounts to the Ellis Park branch, raising residents’ concern about transport and access to their new branches.
Nedcor media relations officer Maya Naidoo said Yeoville’s Nedbank will be converted into a branch of People’s Bank, also a Nedcor interest, because it is better suited to the needs of the community. People’s Bank deals with basic transactions but does not cater for businesses which, she said, have been investing less with the branch lately.
Maurice Smithers, chair of the Business
Improvement District, said it is appropriate for the Yeoville community that Nedbank be replaced by the People’s Bank because the area doesn’t have a large business community. But Standard Bank’s withdrawal sends a bad signal to the community, and it “is going to be a problem for ordinary people who want to do banking. It will make life difficult for its clients.”
All banks denied red-lining claims. Naidoo conceded that “in the Hillbrow/Yeoville area during past years, we can confirm that there has been some decline in the number of bonds granted”, but added that the granting of home loans depends on infrastructural facilities in the specific area, depreciation of property prices and the risk factor facing the bank and potential property owner.
Peter Stoltz, Yeoville Standard Bank’s area manager, said the banking group is regrettably closing a number of its branches and agencies as a part of its strategy to remain competitive.
He said Standard Bank cannot keep branches open where “the cost of a particular facility far exceeds the revenue generated by it”, but conceded that crime and the degeneration of the area may have played a “small part” in the closure of the branch.