ANOTHER quarter of Britain’s bank branches face closure, experts have warned.
Scotland has already been hit hardest as banking increasingly moves online with two outlets shutting a week over the last four years.
Now fresh analysis suggests a whole new wave of closures across the UK with as many as 2400 branches - and 12,000 jobs - to go.
That would suggest as much pain to come as has been endured over the last three years.
Banks and building societies have not announced any new reviews of their branch networks. Banking expert David Black of DJB Research, said: “It has been estimated that 600 branches could deliver effective nationwide customer coverage for banks.
“Looking at the number of branches the top five banks have today, I estimate that if this strategy was adopted some 2,400 branches could still be closed. “
There are currently just under 10,000 bank branches in the UK, according to a House of Commons Library investigation published earlier this year.
The magazine Which? revealed that some 670 branches have closed this year - or have been slated for closure. That could mean 2018 sees more branches shut down than 2017.
Which? also revealed that Scotland had lost more branches than any other nation or region since 2015 with the city of Edinburgh suffered more closures than any other UK local authority, 50. Glasgow was third with 38.
Scotland has accounted for about one in eight closures. Mr Black, however, does not assume that such a ratio will be repeated.
His report, which was commissioned by The Nottingham Building Society, which has doubled its branch network to 67 over the past five years.
David Marlow, the building society’s chief executive, said: “This report echoes what we are seeing on the high street, branches that are solely focused on transactional offerings have a limited future.
Mr Black does not just expect closures. He thinks some existing branches will be made smaller, with cashiers removed and coffee shops fitted in them to encourage footfall.
Such stripped-down branches will no longer have traditional counters where customers pay in cheques and manage your savings account. Instead, they will smaller ‘convenience supermarket style’ branches, where customers serve themselves using machines with someone on hand to help them.
Mr Black also stressed Scotland’s traditions of mobile banking may survive and called for new thinking about where a bank counter is. “We may see more bank counters in estate agencies or post offices,” he told The Herald.
He added: “There is little doubt that more branches will close. This is inevitable as the way people manage their money is changing. However, the extent to which they are closing could be radically reduced if branches took on new services and approaches.”
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