Hope at last for towns hit by closures
Victory for campaign as building society opens where banks moved out
NATIONWIDE, Britain’s biggest building society, is coming to the rescue of towns across the country that have lost their last bank branch.
On Friday, the mutually owned organisation confirmed it would return banking to the high street in Glastonbury, Somerset, possibly in time for next year’s music festival.
The move, if a success, could spark other openings in towns where banks have pulled out, leaving residents and firms without branch banking. It backs a longstanding campaign by The Mail on Sunday to keep a strong banking presence on Britain’s high streets.
Apart from Nationwide, only Metro Bank has made a commitment to opening – rather than closing – branches. Since launching its first branch in the summer of 2010, it has expanded its network to 45 with three further openings in the pipeline. Most are south of Cambridge with a heavy concentration in London.
Glastonbury lost its last two banks this year despite widespread protests by locals, including festival founder Michael Eavis. He described the closure of Lloyds, the last branch in town, as ‘absolutely outrageous’.
Nationwide, which has just reported half-year profits of £696million, is now under the direction of new chief executive Joe Garner. The ex-BT Openreach boss is determined to show that, unlike rivals, it has a ‘deep ethic of care’ in its DNA. He told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The good people of Glastonbury have been crying out for a bank. We can offer them something different, a building society.’
He also confirmed that if the branch proves a hit, it will pave the way for openings in other communities where access to banking services has been curtailed by closures. The move by Nationwide, which has about 700 branches, is welcomed by local MP James Heappey. The Conservative MP for Wells said: ‘I am excited about it. I hope residents respond by switching business to the society.’
He said the only downside was that Nationwide does not offer a current account for small firms. Retailers suffer from bank closures because of their regular need to deposit cash. The Post Office provides business banking services, but they are limited. According to statistics compiled by defunct pressure group the Campaign for Community Banking Services, more than half of branches have shut since 1990. The result is 1,500 bankless communities.
Research by The Mail on Sunday in August revealed that Bank of Scotland, Halifax, HSBC and Lloyds had put 121 branches on notice of closure. Most have now gone, though details of further closures are slowly emerging. Heappey says that in recent weeks HSBC announced two closures in his constituency, earmarked for early 2017, bringing the total to 12 since he was elected in May 2015. HSBC is also shutting its branch in Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex, in February, much to the ire of Jane Cockain, who works for familyowned estate agent Curtis and Son in nearby Findon Valley. When the Goring-by-Sea branch goes, it will leave Jane with no option but to go to Worthing to bank business cheques and cash. She says: ‘To pay a cheque in will take a good 45 minutes by car. It’s as if they don’t want our business.’