The Dunedin North New Zealand Post and Kiwibank in Great King St.

Kiwibank and NZ Post have announced they are closing four joint branches around Dunedin.

The South Dunedin, Moray Pl, Dunedin North and Mosgiel NZ Post and Kiwibank branches are the ones affected.

In a statement sent this afternoon timed to co-ordinate with a similar statement by Kiwibank, NZ Post confirmed it was now ''looking for local businesses to help us ... deliver postal services that are currently available from the South Dunedin, Moray Pl, Dunedin North and Mosgiel NZ Post & Kiwibank branches.''

The statement from Kiwibank said it was opening a standalone banking branch in the Dunedin CBD.

The four Kiwibank and NZ Post branches will continue ''as usual'' until postal partner businesses were secured, the statement said.

The confirmation comes after South Dunedin Business Association chairman Craig Waterhouse launched an online petition to lobby for the retention of NZ Post and Kiwibank services in King Edward St.

The petition was the result of a meeting organised by Brother Graeme Donaldson, at which a group of about 20 South Dunedin residents voiced their opposition to potential closure, citing the number of elderly or disabled people, and those without cars, who relied on the popular post shop and bank.