Hot Seat Jamie Wallis

I AM delighted by news this week that Porthcawl’s banking hub will open in the former Natwest bank premises at John Street.

Cash Access UK, which is providing the facility, has signed the lease on the premises at 77 John Street and work is under way to fit out the hub with the opening scheduled for later this year.

I campaigned hard for this because I knew how important having access to cash is for people not just in Porthcawl but elsewhere as well.

The closure of the Lloyds branch, which was the last bank in town, was postponed until March after my intervention so I hope that the new hub will be in place in time to ease the transition for customers.

The counter service at the Hub will be operated by the Post Office and customers of all the major banks will be able to carry out regular cash transactions Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm. This will help retailers wishing to deposit takings and get cash for change.

The hub will have a regular rota where advisors from the main banks will be present on different days to deal with any problems facing customers.

Cash Access UK was set up to provide nationwide access to cash and opened two banking hubs in Wales in

2023 and will open another six this year including Porthcawl.

They are set up when a town loses its last bank although not every one will get it.

Cash Access UK is owned by nine of the major banks to provide shared services for customers.

Link is the organisation that decides where new services are needed. It reviews the impact of every branch closure.

I welcome this news because losing access to cash seriously disadvantages the six million adults who rely on it in their day to day lives.

Not everyone can or wants to bank online and many small businesses also rely on cash sales.