The bank, which had promoted its branches as “community-focussed spaces” to “brighten … lives”, said customer’s willingness to bank online or using their mobile phones had prompted it to scale back. In the second half of 2020 Britain’s biggest domestic lender Lloyds resumed plans to cut 56 branches and Sabadell’s TSB announced it was axing 164 branches. When Clydesdale Bank merged with Virgin Money in 2018 the group had a combined total of 245 branches but that will fall to 131 after these latest closures. Earlier this year, Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority told banks to rethink moves to close branches during the pandemic lockdown, fearing it could be to the detriment of customers. Virgin said the closures would trigger a restructuring charge of 25 million pounds ($34 million) in the fourth quarter.

Source: MetroXpress September 30, 2021 07:07 UTC