NatWest and Lloyds Banking Group have reportedly announced plans to shut a further 81 banks between them.

Lloyds will close 39 sites – including 26 Lloyds Bank, nine Halifax, and four Bank of Scotland branches later on this year, while NatWest will shut 42 branches.

Last year NatWest announced plans to close 43 branches in 2023, driven by a shift to mobile and online banking.

At the time, it said it had seen average counter transactions across the bank decrease by 64 per cent between January 2019 and January 2022, while the number of customers using mobile apps jumped by 38 per cent during the same period.

Commenting on the latest bank branch closures, a NatWest spokesperson said: “As with many industries, most of our customers are shifting to mobile and online banking, because it’s faster and easier for people to manage their financial lives. We understand and recognise that digital solutions aren’t right for everyone or every situation, and that when we close branches we have to make sure that no one is left behind."

Lloyds also said that with the use of digital banking growing, branch visits have fallen by an average of 59 per cent in the past five years.

“Our customers are increasingly using digital channels to manage their money – we now have over 20 million regular digital users so it’s important we continue to develop the online services our customers want to use," said a Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson. "Our branches will continue to be an option for our customers, alongside our telephone services, mobile app and online bank.”

The news comes days after it was revealed that Barclays would shut a further 14 branches on top of the 55 it had already planned for the year.

The bank said that because visits to bank branches are continuing to fall, it needs to adapt to provide a better service for customers.

FStech has reached out to Lloyds Banking Group for comment.

In January, plans for nine new shared banking hubs were announced as the wave of bank branch closures seen last year continued into 2023.

Banking hubs are a shared banking space on the High Street which offer a counter service operated by the Post Office.

At the hubs, customers of all major banks in the UK–Barclays, Danske Bank, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, NatWest, Santander, TSB, and Virgin Money–can carry out regular cash transactions throughout the working week.

Share Story: