800 BANK BRANCHES SHUT IN ONE YEAR
at least 800 bank branches have been shut down this year – at a rate of more than two a day.
The closures, which are devastating for smaller towns and villages, have been led by Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, Santander and Natwest owner RBS.
The loss of 802 branches is thought to be a record for one year – the eight major groups shut down 1,000 between them over 2015 and 2016. They insist the changes are justified by the switch to online banking.
But campaigners believe the closures are hitting vulnerable customers and damaging small firms in more remote areas.
Worse is to come, with RBS scheduled to slash 259 outlets – a quarter of its network – within six months. Lloyds plans to axe 49.
Wes Streeting, who sits on the Commons Treasury committee, urged the banks to change course. ‘Customers in rural and isolated communities will be concerned to hear the clanging chimes of doom ringing over the future of their local bank branches this Christmas,’ said the Labour MP.
‘It’s time for banks to listen to customers who value their local branches and give them the present they’re looking for by calling a halt to these closures.’
Campaigners say losing a bank branch can kill
off life in a village because neighbouring stores often rely on it to drum up trade.
Customers miss out as well, especially those with poor broadband connections that make online banking difficult.
Many are forced to travel to access counter services.
James Daley, of the consumer group Fairer Finance, said: ‘Banks need to remember they have a responsibility to communities as well as their shareholders. We all need to work together to ensure branches are protected.
‘In 50 or 100 years, it’s hard to believe many – or any – of us will be doing banking in branches, so the savings that banks are keen to capture will come eventually but they mustn’t accelerate the process.’
The five biggest banks now have fewer than 6,000 branches, compared with 11,240 two decades ago.
The latest cutbacks have been led by RBS, which was bailed out with £46billion of taxpayers’ money in 2008 and is still 71.5 per cent-owned by the public. It has shut 244 branches this year.
The number of NatWest branches has fallen from 1,061 to 856, while those under the Royal Bank of Scotland banner have been cut from 190 to 151.
RBS says the number of customers using branches has dropped 40 per cent since 2014 and transactions using mobiles are up 73 per cent over the same period.
Lloyds, the owner of Halifax and Bank of Scotland, has ditched 195 branches across all its brands – taking its total to 1,843. HSBC has shed 117 branches, Barclays 98, Santander 23, TSB 37 and Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group 78. Mike Cherry of the Federation of Small Businesses said: ‘It’s disappointing to hear that such a huge number of bank branches have closed their doors this year, with more to come in 2018.
‘Local branches are vital for business communities across the country, particularly in rural areas that are still heavily dependent on cash.
‘Small firms value the face-to-face contact, particularly when they are making big financial decisions or completing complicated transactions.’
The closures come on top of a push by the big lenders to slash ATM numbers.
Banks are demanding a cut in the fees they pay to independent operators, which campaigners claim could see as many as 5,000 towns and villages lose their free cash machines. A spokesman for banking lobby group UK Finance said: ‘Decisions to close down branches are only ever taken after all other options, like reducing opening hours and staff numbers, have been exhausted.
‘It has become much easier for the vast majority of people to do their day-to-day banking as they take advantage of digital technology. But technology is not for everyone so all the major banks allow you to do basic banking through Post Office branches.’