Santander is closing more branches as part of a wider strategy to reduce its physical footprint in response to changing customer behaviour. Nine branches will shut their doors this week across England in the latest round of closures.
The bank had earlier announced plans to close 95 branches from June onwards, including 38 in July, citing a continued shift towards online and mobile banking. Two branches in London – Hackney and Holloway – are among the Santander branches to be closing this week. The full list can be seen below:
Bognor Regis — July 14
Colne — July 14
Exmouth — July 15
Felixstowe — July 16
Hackney — July 15
Holloway — July 14
Honiton — July 14
Rawtenstall — July 15
Seaford — July 14
A spokesperson for Santander UK previously said the bank needs to ensure its branches “remain fit for the future” amid changes in customer behaviour and added it will introduce Community Bankers to provide face-to-face support to customers, visiting local communities weekly.
They said: “As a business, we must move with customers and balance our investment across all the places where we interact with customers, to deliver the very best for them now and in the future.
“Closing a branch is always a very difficult decision, and we spend a great deal of time assessing where and when we do this and how to minimise the impact it may have on our customers.
“However, we believe that the introduction of our new Community Bankers and the exciting plans we have for our remaining network of 349 branches and Work Cafés, alongside the rapid and innovative improvements to our award-winning mobile banking app, will provide the right balance of digital banking and human interaction when required.”
The spokesperson said at the time that about 750 employees could face redundancy if the proposed plans moved forward following union consultations.
In its March announcement, Santander said the changes will see it have 18 counter-free and 36 reduced hours branches, alongside 290 full-service branches and five Work Cafés across the UK.
Earlier this month, Santander agreed to buy TSB for £2.65 billion, further raising concerns over high street bank closures.
Bank and building society branches have been disappearing from high streets at an alarming pace in recent years.
Analysis by Which? shows lenders have closed 6,443 branches since January 2015, at a rate of 53 per month.