ANZ Bank branches in Geraldine and Waimate look likely to have to move after their present buildings were found not to be up to earthquake standard and bringing them up to standard to be uneconomic.

Following the Canterbury earthquakes the bank had engineers assess the buildings housing all ANZ branches throughout the country. Those reports revealed work was required on the buildings housing the Temuka, Geraldine and Waimate branches to bring them up to the present earthquake code standard.

At this stage it seems likely the Temuka branch will remain on the existing site, the bank's regional manager Dunedin and North, Vaughan Keenan said today. There was not a great deal of upgrading work required and one option being considered was moving the branch into a relocatable building in the car park while the strengthening work was carried out.

The bank was looking at a couple of alternative sites for the Geraldine branch as upgrading the present building was cost prohibitive, Mr Keenan said. They were looking for a site which would retain the bank's profile in the town.

Waimate staff were likely to move into longer-term temporary accommodation until a new branch site was identified. Finding a suitable site for the Waimate branch was not proving so easy, Mr Keenan said, as many of the buildings were of a similar age and condition to what the bank was in. Those that would be suitable were already tenanted.

The most likely option was for a portable building to be brought in and fitted out as a branch as an interim measure, Mr Keenan said.

He could not comment on what was likely to happen to the ANZ and National Bank branches in Timaru in light of this week's announcement that ANZ National Bank was merging the two brands. Timaru is the only town in South Canterbury where both banks have a branch at present.

The ANZ branch in Oamaru moved into the earthquake-strengthened National Bank several months ago when engineers discovered the ANZ building was not up to strength.

Commenting on the planned merger, the bank's website states ''where two branches will now be right next to each other, over time we may relocate one branch to another area to further increase our nationwide coverage.''

At the moment we have about 300 branches nationwide and over the next three years as we move resources around we'll end up with about 280 branches, still the most of any bank. This will see us investing $100 million to ensure we have 50 new and many more renovated branches for customers in current and new communities.''

- © Fairfax NZ News

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