117 HSBC bank branches will shut this year
HSBC has outlined plans to close more than 100 branches and axe nearly 400 jobs as the shake-up of its High Street banking operations continues.
The lender said a further 62 branches would be shut down this year on top of the 55 already planned – taking the total to 117 closures in 2017.
The move is expected to result in up to 180 job losses and came as the bank revealed that 204 IT staff could also be axed. Critics said it was a ‘dark day’ for HSBC staff and a blow to customers set to lose their local branch.
The bank was singled out last month in a survey by consumer group Which? as having closed more branches than any other lender in the last two years.
The report found a total of 1,046 branches were shut in the UK between January 2015 and January 2017 – including 321 by HSBC before yesterday’s announcement – with rural areas among the worst affected.
HSBC said it has cut its branch network due to a ‘change in the way customers are banking’ – with the number of people visiting branches down by 40pc in the last five years and 97pc of cash withdrawals done through cash machines rather than over the counter.
Francesca McDonagh, HSBC head of retail banking and wealth management for UK and Europe, said: ‘The way our customers bank with us is changing. More customers are using mobile and internet banking than ever before, and fewer people are using branches.’
But Neil Duncan- Jordan, national officer for National Pensioners Convention, said the closures were ‘detrimental’ to many older customers who rely on their local bank branch. ‘It is very regrettable that a bank is so shortsighted when it comes to the needs of all their customers,’ he said.
‘Of course, younger customers are quite prepared to conduct their financial affairs online or on their smart phone but for very large numbers of pensions, many still not online, this is not desirable or not possible.’
HSBC said its plans would reduce the number of branches it has in the UK to 625 by the end of this year.
Antonio Simoes, chief executive of HSBC Bank, the UK business, said: ‘This marks the end of our branch restructuring programme. We now feel we have the right branch network that complements the other ways in which customers now choose to interact with us.’
But Unite union national officer Dominic Hook called on the banking industry to rethink ‘ such branch-culling exercises’.
He said: ‘Today is a dark day for hundreds of HSBC staff who will arrive at work to be told that they could lose their job as their branch closes or their IT role is cut. ‘Unite is deeply concerned that this large branch closure programme will be devastating not only for staff but also for the loyal HSBC customers who will lose their community branch.’
HSBC said it would try to redeploy staff impacted by the branch closures.
On the IT jobs, a bank spokesman said: ‘HSBC has stated that it intends to find significant cost savings by the end of 2017, as part of its ongoing strategy to ensure the bank remains efficient and competitive.’
It came as the Post Office said more people and businesses will be able to do their everyday banking with the organisation under a new agreement.
It said new, simplified arrangements with the banking industry mean 99pc of UK personal banking customers can do their dayto-day banking at the Post Office, up from 95pc previously.