Original source URL: http://stuff.co.nz/manawatustandard/4108644a6502.html Tuesday, 26 June 2007 Do-it-yourself banking arrives The small Tararua town of Eketahuna is taking Do It Yourself to whole new levels. It didn't have a supermarket, so it created its own. It didn't have a petrol station, so it set one up. Now, the town is taking banking into its own hands as well. After all the major banks refused to put either a branch or automatic teller machine in Eketahuna, locals decided to set up a money exchange. The exchange was the brainchild of Tararua district councillor Claire Matthews, a banking studies senior lecturer. She said Eketahuna's population of about 500 made it too small for a bank. "It's purely a question of profit. It would not be economically viable." An exchange was the obvious solution, after seeing similar systems in other small towns. "A bank branch is only of use if you are with that bank, and an ATM really only allows withdrawals, which may attract higher fees for customers of other banks. I suggested a money exchange, as I had seen in Northland." Mrs Matthews said not having banking services was frustrating for people in Eketahuna, where the nearest bank facilities were 25km away in Pahiatua. The exchange will be run by staff in the council's service centre and will aim to break even rather than make a profit, with the council subsidising the operation for the first six months on a trial basis. It will provide access to cash through an eftpos machine, change for businesses, cash or cheque deposits, and cheque cashing for approved customers. Deposits will go by courier to banks in Masterton. It is expected to be up and running by August. -- -------------------------------------------------------- Posting archives: http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/ Escaping the Matrix website: http://escapingthematrix.org/ cyberjournal website: http://cyberjournal.org Community Democracy Framework: http://cyberjournal.org/DemocracyFramework.html To subscribe to the newslog list: Send message to: •••@••.••• with Subject: subscribe newslog To subscribe to one of the mirrors of newslog, send a message to either: •••@••.••• •••@••.••• Moderator: •••@••.••• (comments welcome)
