Bank branch closures update: Nationwide and HSBC pledge to stay open - Will your bank?
Two major high street banks are promising to keep branches open
GETTY/NATIONWIDE
Nationwide Building Society and HSBC have promised to remain open for the next couple of years despite the wave of bank branch closures sweeping the nation.
Concerns have been raised over peoples' access to cash in the wake of in-person banking being phased out but certain financial institutions are keeping their branches open.
Here is a full list of the banks in the UK that have closed down bank branches this year:
- Lloyds Bank
- Halifax
- NatWest
- Royal Bank of Scotland
- Barclays
- Bank of Scotland.
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Bank branch closures are continuing at an 'alarming rate', according to Which?GETTY Earlier this week, HSBC announced that it will not close any bank branches until 2026 which means its 327 locations will remain open for the next year-and-a-half.
Some £50million is being invested by the bank into improving its physical services and refurbishing its existing locations.
This mirrors the "Branch Promise" from Nationwide Building Society which is set to last until 2028.
Under this pledge, the building society will not leave any area it currently operates in without access to in-person services.
Recently, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published new guidance outlining the responsibility financial institutions have in protecting peoples' access to cash services.
Among these measures include rolling out more banking hubs and ATMs to parts of the country which have been impacted by closures.
On its website, Nationwide states: "We know branches are important to our customers. So, everywhere we have a branch, we promise to still be there until at least the start of 2028.
"There may be circumstances outside of our control that mean we have to close a branch. But we will only do this if we don’t have another workable option."
Furthermore, banks and building societies will have to outline their reasoning behind shutting down certain sites.
Rocio Concha, Which?'s director of policy, outlined why the FCA's latest guidance will safeguard consumers from the wave of branch closures.
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High streets have been hit by a wave of store closures since the pandemic, on top of banks shutting down PAShe explained: "The guidance that went before was insufficient amid a wave of ATM and bank closures that left more than 30 parliamentary constituencies - covering nearly three million people - without a single branch.
"It's encouraging that the FCA is moving forward with this plan. It must now be prepared to closely monitor how banks and building societies are behaving and step in with enforcement action if they are falling short of what is needed to maintain cash access in communities.
"Industry initiatives such as banking hubs will likely be the future of banking in lieu of shuttered branches, but their rollout remains too slow for consumers to feel their benefit.
"The Government must deliver its commitment to open at least 350 new hubs in the coming years - and revise that total upwards if necessary."
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