Santander is to close 140 branches, putting 1,270 jobs at risk.

The lender said the closures are in response to how customers are choosing to carry out their banking.

Santander has consulted unions on the proposed changes and will seek to find alternative roles for the 1,270 staff members affected, wherever possible.

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The bank expects to be able to redeploy around a third of that number.

Susan Allen, Santander's head of retail and business banking, said: "The way our customers are choosing to bank with us has changed dramatically in recent years, with more and more customers using online and mobile channels.

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"As a result, we have had to take some very difficult decisions over our less-visited branches, and those where we have other branches in close proximity.

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"We will support customers of closing branches to find alternative ways to bank with us that best suit their individual needs. We are also working alongside our unions to support colleagues through these changes and to find alternative roles for those impacted wherever possible."

The big high street lenders such as Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group are also closing stores to deal with customers' changing banking habits and to reduce costs as well as deal with the challenge from new digital only banks such as Starling and Monzo.

However, the branch closures is also seeing people having to travel long distances in order to access financial services and cash.

Santander also announced that it will spend £55 million refurbishing 100 branches over the next two years in order to "focus on personal service, convenience and community engagement".

The lender, which is owned by Spanish banking giant Banco Santander, has around 15 million customers and as at the end of last June employed around 24,200 people.