Banco Provincia del Neuquén will close 30 September its branches of Villa Regina, Choele Choel, and Las Grutas, in Río Negro. The entity justified the decision due to joint annual losses close to US$10 million and stated that the 13 affected workers will be relocated. This is a confirmed physical closure without announced layoffs, not a complete withdrawal of the bank from the Rio Negro territory.
The offices of General Roca and Cipolletti will continue to operate. For customers in the three locations that are losing branches, the bank announced periodic visits and alternative service mechanisms. The frequency, available procedures, and how operations that require physical presence will be handled are still to be determined. It was also not explained whether there will be permanent ATMs, correspondent services, or agreements with other entities to handle deposits and withdrawals. The continuation of an account or a digital channel does not necessarily replace all the services of a branch.
Gabriel Bosco, president of BPN, stated that the institution should review unprofitable offices and concentrate its public banking function within Neuquén. The argument combines financial efficiency with territorial priority. The figure of US$10 million was communicated as an aggregate annual loss, but separate balance sheets by branch, cost composition, revenues, or methodology to assign results to each location were not disclosed.
The 13 employees would be transferred to other locations in Neuquén or to General Roca, considering the proximity of their homes. The promise preserves the positions, although a relocation may change distances, schedules, duties, and commuting expenses. To verify that there is no job loss, individual conditions, each worker's acceptance, and the agreements reached with Asociación Bancaria must be known. A collective guarantee of continuity must be translated into concrete proposals that do not force resignation due to geographic or family incompatibility.
The withdrawal from Río Negro coincides with a selective expansion in Neuquén. This reallocation also changes the banking competition map between both provinces and may shift customers to other institutions. The bank announced new commercial offices in Taquimilán, Las Coloradas, Los Miches, Manzano Amargo, and Barrancas, as well as a future branch in San Martín de los Andes. Budgets, schedules, and staffing for these openings were not released, so they should be considered projects until they begin operations. That combination shows that the strategy is not about reducing the entire network, but about reallocating resources to locations in its home province and areas considered a priority.
The decision has a local economic effect even without layoffs. Businesses, retirees, public employees, and small producers in Villa Regina, Choele Choel, and Las Grutas will lose proximity to in-person banking services. The impact will be different in each city depending on connectivity, the offerings of other banks, and the volume of clients. Las Grutas also has a tourist seasonality factor, while Choele Choel and Villa Regina provide services for regional productive areas. Municipalities and local chambers will need to measure unmet demand before accepting that itinerant service compensates for the disappearance of a permanent branch.
The follow-up should confirm that the closure occurs on the announced date, that General Roca and Cipolletti remain operational, and that the 13 positions are maintained in equivalent conditions. It will also be necessary to evaluate the promised mobile service, the fate of the properties, and the actual cost of the transition. The two selected links report the same announcement and do not constitute independent news. Presenting the case as a wave of layoffs would be incorrect; describing it solely as an efficiency improvement would ignore the loss of territorial access. The measure is a network restructuring: three closures in Río Negro, five offices and one branch projected in Neuquén, and a staff redistribution still pending full implementation.
