SANTANDER is the latest bank to announce branch closures, with four in Scotland to shut.
The move follows similar announcements by other banks but is not on the same scale as the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is shutting 62 branches north of the Border.
The Spanish-owned bank’s closures emerged after it wrote to customers of affected branches – Clarkston in East Renfrewshire, Linlithgow, Corstorphine in Edinburgh and the capital’s Princes Street. Linlithgow is to suffer a double blow as its Royal Bank branch will also close next year.
A Santander spokesman denied the bank had tried to hide the closures, saying: “We would not accept we have acted inappropriately or tried to hide this news as we have fully engaged all the communities impacted.
“Santander is committed to ensuring we provide a good level of service that meets the changing needs of our customers. In order to do this we continually review our branch network, and sometimes need to make difficult decisions over our less-utilised branches, ensuring colleagues and customers are informed well in advance of any changes.
“As a result of our recent internal review, Santander will be closing four branches in Scotland in May and June 2018.
“This decision has not been taken lightly and follows a strategic review looking across our UK branch network, changing customer behaviour, branch and digital channel usage, alternative ways for our customers to bank with us, whilst supporting local communities.”
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