Should the banks keep local branches open?

IT IS true that many customers rarely need to visit a branch — cashless payment systems and online banking have seen to this — but small traders and the elderly do need local banking. The banks have co-operated with each other on cheque clearing, card payments and ATMs, so why not have a composite bank in every High Street?

DAVID HADWIN, Lyme Regis, Dorset. THE claims by the major banks that they are closing branches due to a lack of demand are cynical. Before finally closing, my branch gradually withdrew services such as foreign currency and stock and share dealings. Unsurprisingly, the number of customer visits declined. An equivalent action would be if a brewery stopped serving alcohol and meals in a gastropub and then closed it due to a fall in customers.

LEONARD MACAULEY, Staining, Lancs.

BANK branches that are still open have meet-and-greet staff to steer customers to machines rather than have their transactions completed at the counter. You have to be very determined to avoid this manoeuvre.

THOMAS G. R. WRIGHT, Bradford, W. Yorks. NATWEST has closed four local branches and is insisting I’d be better banking online. Maybe better for them, but not for me. The Visa and TSB computer meltdowns are not great adverts for online banking. The banks need to prove they understand business and computing or do a U-turn and reopen branches.

MELVYN AVIS, St Germans, Cornwall.

I LIVE five miles from Wadhurst where Lloyds closed its branch last year and NatWest is going at the end of this month, leaving no banks in the town. So how can the Lloyds TV advert claim: ‘Always by your side’?

SHEILA EDWARDS, Ticehurst, E. Sussex.