HSBC says is to close 114 branches across the UK from April, as customers using them have fallen significantly since pandemic.

Of those at least two are in Scotland. They are the Stirling branch which is due to close on June 6, next year and the Dundee office which is scheduled to shut on May 30.

The bank said it will try to redeploy affected staff, but said about 100 people would lose their jobs.

Banks have shut hundreds of branches in recent years as more people bank online and lenders cut costs.

Access to money concerns has continued to surface as it emerged nearly half (47%) of the over 1000 bank branches which were open in Scotland seven years ago will have shut by the end of 2021.

And cash machine use in Scotland slumped by nearly half in two years and is not returning to pre-pandemic levels.

Data showed that there were 93m withdrawals in 2021 while there were 175.7m in 2019, before Covid hit the nation.

The average Scot was withdrawing £1,578 per year in 2021 compared to £2553 before the pandemic - a nearly 40% decline.

HSBC said it will invest tens of millions "updating and improving" its remaining 327 UK branches.

The bank said the closures are due to fewer people using physical branches to do their banking.

The number of people visiting an HSBC has fallen by 65% in five years, the firm said.

An HSBC statement said: "The decline in branch use has accelerated so much since the Covid-19 pandemic that some of the branches closing are now serving fewer than 250 customers a week."

The Herald:

HSBC in Dundee.

HSBC said 97.5% of all its banking transactions now take place online.

The latest closures come after the Financial Conduct Authority said that banks would be closing branches and could receive financial penalties running into hundreds of thousands of pounds if they fail to comply with new rules over the public's right to cash.

They warned that banks should consider communities when considering even cutting branch hours or closing free-to-use ATM while the Financial Conduct Authority says will block closures it was unhappy with.

Banks were to be fined as a last resort with final penalities decided on a case by case basis.

The financial regulator revealed last month it has already put a stop to several bank closures through its supervisory work.

More people are banking online, prompting banks to cut the number of branches, but the FCA said that about a fifth of adults with a day-to-day account regularly used a branch over the past 12 months, particularly vulnerable adults or those in financial difficulty.

HSBC UK managing director of UK distribution Jackie Uhi said: “People are changing the way they bank and footfall in many branches is at an all-time low, with no signs of it returning.

“The decision to close a branch is never easy or taken lightly, especially if we are the last branch in an area, so we’ve invested heavily in our ‘post closure’ strategy, including providing free tablet devices to selected branch customers who do not already have a device to bank digitally, alongside one-to-one coaching to help them migrate to digital banking."

The full list of HSBC branches closing down is:

April

Blandford Forum 18/04/2023
Bristol Downend 25/04/2023
Bexhill on Sea 18/04/2023
Leominster 25/04/2023
Abergavenny 18/04/2023
Market Bosworth 25/04/2023
Cromer 18/04/2023
Alton 25/04/2023
St Ives 18/04/2023
Shaftesbury 25/04/2023
St Austell 18/04/2023


May

Wilmslow 02/05/2023
Stamford 16/05/2023
Whitley Bay 02/05/2023
Whitby 16/05/2023
Coleraine 02/05/2023
Bridport 23/05/2023
Bideford 02/05/2023
Hove 23/05/2023
Gainsborough 02/05/2023
Fakenham 23/05/2023
Launceston 02/05/2023
Sudbury 23/05/2023
Arnold 09/05/2023
Liskeard 23/05/2023
Didcot 09/05/2023
Bristol Filton 30/05/2023
Brecon 09/05/2023
Dundee 30/05/2023
Minehead 09/05/2023
Waltham Cross 30/05/2023
Dover 09/05/2023 11
Hinckley Road 30/05/2023
Halesowen 16/05/2023
Market Harborough 30/05/2023
Stroud 16/05/2023
Stourport on Severn 30/05/2023
Brighouse 16/05/2023


June

Stirling 06/06/2023
Twickenham 20/06/2023
Pocklington 06/06/2023
Ross on Wye 20/06/2023
Chepstow 06/06/2023
Hertford 20/06/2023
Knutsford 06/06/2023
Wells 20/06/2023
Frome 06/06/2023
Bicester 20/06/2023
Portadown 06/06/2023
Oakham 20/06/2023
Penarth 13/06/2023
New Milton 27/06/2023
Ilkley 13/06/2023
Lewes 27/06/2023
South Shields 13/06/2023
Pontypool 27/06/2023
Skipton 13/06/2023
Beccles 27/06/2023
Honiton 13/06/2023
St Neots 27/06/2023
Sleaford 13/06/2023
Wadebridge 27/06/2023


July

Portishead 04/07/2023
Horsforth 18/07/2023
Droitwich 04/07/2023
Gosforth 18/07/2023
Leatherhead 04/07/2023
Harpenden 18/07/2023
Palmers Green 04/07/2023
Bognor Regis 18/07/2023
Coalville 04/07/2023
Marlow 18/07/2023
Park Gate Southampton 11/07/2023
Christchurch 25/07/2023
Wetherby 11/07/2023
Seaford 25/07/2023
Port Talbot 11/07/2023
Blackwood 25/07/2023
Kingswinford 11/07/2023
Norwich Mile Cross 25/07/2023
Long Eaton 11/07/2023
Ripley 25/07/2023
Bromborough 18/07/2023
Tonbridge 25/07/2023


August

Bristol Westbury on Trym 01/08/2023
Bethnal Green 15/08/2023
Ormskirk 01/08/2023
Hornchurch 15/08/2023
Putney 01/08/2023
Colwyn Bay 15/08/2023
Ashton under Lyne 01/08/2023
Dorchester 22/08/2023
Kenilworth 01/08/2023
Morley 22/08/2023
Reigate 08/08/2023
Wymondham 22/08/2023
North Finchley 08/08/2023
Ryde 22/08/2023
Cirencester 08/08/2023
Windsor 22/08/2023
Henley on Thames 08/08/2023
Cardiff Rhyd y Penau 29/08/2023
Denbigh 08/08/2023
Leighton Buzzard 29/08/2023
122 Finchley Road 15/08/2023
Eastwood 29/08/2023
Chippenham 15/08/2023

Branches that will close with no set date
Oxted
Hythe
Epworth
Cowbridge
Holsworthy
Settle
Tenby

Branch refurbishments planned for 2023

Bournemouth Middlesbrough
Liverpool Lord St Sheffield
Bishopsgate Guildford
Baker St Oxford
Leicester Lincoln
Walsall Telford
Portsmouth Belfast
Doncaster Harrow
Southampton Cardiff Queen St
Hull Peterborough


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