Action needed on mobile banking ‘ chaos’ in Highlands, claims MP
● Jamie Stone raises escalating branch closure issue in Commons
Mobile banks, the banking giants’ “solution” to closing down branches in the Highlands, is not working and has resulted in chaos, a Scottish MP has said.
Jamie Stone, Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, raising the issue in the House of Commons, said mobile banks from two different banks can arrive at once in a village, while other locations have none.
Mr Stone, who is campaigning on the issue, also said customers are also facing problems such as waiting in long queues in bad weather and difficulties with transactions.
More than a dozen bank branches have closed in the Highlands in recent years.
Mr Stone called on the government front bench and the Chancellor to order banks to co - ordinate their actions on delivering this“vital service” to people in the Highlands.
Treasury minister Stephen Barclay replied that these were commercial decisions, that bank branch visits had fallen by around a third since 2011, more than 600,00018- yearolds had registered for internet banking and that one-fifth less cash is now used for payments.
Speaking after the exchange, Mr Stone said :“I found the minister’ s reply not at all helpful. It is all very well going on about young people using internet banking but this does not address the problems the non-young have in access proper banking facilities in their communities.
“My point about a more organised mobile bank system being set up, the lack of any ability to deal with paperbased transactions, and people having to queue outside the mobile bank, in sometimes filthy weather, was completely ignored.”
Mr Stone added :“This is simply not good enough and I shall be returning to this issue at the very first opportunity.
“If government was so mind- ed, it would be easy to instruct the high street banks to get their act together.
“The bottom line is this: citizens of the UK, and in particularly my constituents in the remoter areas, have an equal right to adequate and accessible banking facilities.”
A spokesman for UK Finance, representing around 300 companies in the banking and financial sector, said: “Customers want a range of ways to do their banking, and the industry is responding to this by investing in a number of options including mobile branches.
“This enables banks to increase the number of rural communities they reach, selecting the most appropriate mobile banking locations and timings for their customers.
“All major banks have arranged for customers and businesses to be able to do basic banking at all 11,500 post office branches, and are signed up to the Access to Banking Standard.”
“If government was so- minded, it would be easy to instruct the high street banks to get their act together”
JAMIE STONE, MP