Nationwide is trialling a new community fund that will donate £200 for every new current and savings account opened by residents in Windsor, where it is the last bank branch in the town.

Reaffirming its “commitment to the High Street”, the community fund will see up to £10,000 going towards the initiative.

Nationwide said it is also exploring how it will support its other "last branch locations" of which there are around 90 across the country.

Nationwide’s Windsor Community Fund is reportedly the first of its kind, with the building society saying that the move would be particularly helpful to residents who “value branches, but who have been left stranded due to their bank branch closing”.

“Our community fund is not just about banking, it's about investing and saying ‘thank you’ to the town and the people that have stuck with us over the years,” said Mandy Beech, director of retail services at Nationwide. “We are also exploring how we can support our other last branch in town communities across the country, ensuring those who value face-to-face service aren’t abandoned while enabling them to give back locally too.”

Nationwide recently pledged not to leave a Cheshire town after it became the last banking branch in the area. The move, which came amidst a wave of bank closures as more people shift to online banking, is part of Nationwide's promise to keep all of its existing branches open until at least 2026.

Recent data from Nationwide found that UK usage of cash machines had risen for the second year in a row.

Around 31.4 million cash withdrawals were made from the building society’s network of ATMs last year, a four per cent increase on 2022.

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