IRRV Alert - week ending 20th August 2021
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High street banks respond to Treasury Committee on branch closures (20 August 2021)
High street banks respond to Treasury Committee on branch closures
20 August 2021
The Treasury Committee today publishes correspondence from high street banks on branch closures.
Correspondence
The following pieces of correspondence have been published:
- Letter from NatWest to Committee Chair
- Letter from Lloyds Banking Group to Committee Chair
- Letter from TSB to Committee Chair
- Letter from Barclays to Committee Chair
- Letter from Santander to Committee Chair
- Letter from HSBC to Committee Chair
- Letter from Nationwide to Committee Chair
In a letter from the Committee Chair, Rt. Hon. Mel Stride MP, the banks were asked to outline their current number of branches, the number of ‘last in town’ branches, their plans to maintain branches, the factors considered when closing a branch and details of the support provided to customers when a branch is closed.
Chair's comment
Commenting on the responses, Rt. Hon. Mel Stride MP, Chair of the Treasury Committee, said:
“For many, particularly small businesses, the elderly and vulnerable, access to a bank branch is vital to accessing cash. While it is encouraging that the high street banks have engaged so positively with the Committee, we note that there are over 200 ‘last in town’ bank branches across the country. We are concerned that, should these close, vital access to cash and banking services will be out of reach for many communities.
The Committee will continue to monitor the impact of bank branch closures on access to cash as part of our broader work.”
Table 1: Number of bank branches by high street bank
|
Bank name |
No. of branches |
No. of branches that are last in community |
No. of mobile branches |
|
|
|
Lloyds Banking Group |
Lloyds |
808 |
118 |
51 |
|
|
Halifax |
575 |
|
|||
|
Bank of Scotland |
184 |
|
|||
|
TSB |
290 |
3 |
0 |
(38 pop up) |
|
|
Barclays |
738 |
No number provided |
6* |
|
|
|
Santander |
450 |
6 |
0 |
|
|
|
Nationwide |
643 |
30 |
0 |
|
|
|
NatWest |
833 |
46 |
46* |
|
|
|
HSBC |
548 |
10 |
0 |
|
|
|
Total |
5069 |
213 |
|
||
* Number of mobile branches was provided separately to the letter sent