Wagga Wagga in the New South Wales Riverina is this week hosting the first in a nationwide series of face-to-face meetings between Commonwealth Bank's Customer Advocate and regional community leaders.

Customer Advocate Dr Brendan French will meet representatives from agriculture, business and the wider Wagga community to help the bank better understand and represent the needs of customers in regional Australia. 

"We want to hear first-hand what the people of Wagga need from Commonwealth Bank and how we can better meet those needs," Dr French says.

"With strong retail, small business and agribusiness, Wagga’s broad range of customers make this an ideal place to improve our understanding of the concerns and needs of regional Australia."

Wagga will be the first in a series of meetings planned for regional cities and towns across the country throughout 2017. 

“We want customers to have simpler, easier, faster and fairer experiences. 

"So we’re going to put what we learn in Wagga and other regional centres to work right across the bank to improve the way we do things and prevent potential problems,” Dr French says

The Customer Advocate team has a particular focus on helping customers who are disadvantaged, experiencing hardship, have language difficulties or face other special circumstances.

Operating separately from the day-to-day running of the business, the Customer Advocate team also includes a dedicated team offering customers an independent alternative when resolving complaints.

For further information about the Commonwealth Bank Customer Advocate, visit www.commbank.com.au/customeradvocate