Around the corner from Westpac's shuttered Mentone branch, clustered together are branches of CBA, NAB and the Bank of Melbourne. Mentone shop owners and locals won't go without banking services but there is always an inherent fear that the rot has set in, and other banks will follow. And in a tough retailing environment, it's not easy for landlords to find new commercial tenants. "The banks used to be as safe as you could get as far as an investment was concerned. They now don't represent the certainty that they once did," says a Melbourne real estate agent who has dealt with multiple branch closures. The CBA's efforts to trim costs by closing 4.3 per cent of its branches over the year were at the lower end of the pain inflicted by the big four.