A spokesperson from CIBC has confirmed with TimminsToday that they will be closing their South Porcupine branch for good by March. This means that all accounts from the historic branch at the corner of Main Street and Golden Avenue will be transferred to the modern and spacious CIBC building in Downtown Timmins.
"As more and more Canadians are choosing to do their banking outside of traditional banking centres, we’ve needed to make some adjustments to our network and recently made the difficult decision to close our South Porcupine Banking Centre and consolidate it with our Pine and Third Banking Centre in Timmins on March 9, 2018," said Susan Kirwan, Senior Public Relations Consultant of CIBC's headquarters in Toronto.
It is another punch in the gut for a once bustling commercial district. South Porcupine's branch of TD Bank closed its doors in May, after it was tabbed for closure in a company statement last December.
Due to shifting trends in Canadians' banking habits, smaller branches of major banks have been closing all across the country. In February, the municipality lost its only HSBC branch for good. The banks say that decreased foot traffic is a major factor in the decisions.
"While many clients in South Porcupine are already banking online or by phone, and can continue to do so, they are also welcome to come to our full-service banking centre in Timmins," said Kirwan.
One silver lining can be found in the fact that no one will be losing their job.
"All of our employees at South Porcupine will be transitioning to our Pine and Third Banking Centre in Timmins as a result of this change," said Kirwan.
