High street bank Santander is to shutter 140 branches before the end of the year, almost one in five of its current total.
The list of closures includes branches in the centre of London, Manchester, Birmingham and Coventry, as well as more rural areas in Scotland and Wales.
Santander says that its in-branch transactions have fallen 23% over the last three years, while online transactions have soared 99%.
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The firm’s head of retail and business banking, Susan Allen, said that the shift meant “we have had to take some very difficult decisions over our less visited branches”.
The branches set for closure employ more than 1,200 staff whose future is now unclear. The Spanish-owned bank says it hopes to find alternative positions for around one-third of the affected employees.
“It is thought that employees in more remote branches in Wales, where relocation may not be a viable option, will be most exposed to redundancy,” says The Guardian.
On 25 April, “branches at Bathgate, Bideford, Clitheroe, Corby, Eastcote, Helensburgh, Oakham and two in London will shut their doors”, the BBC reports. More will close in successive waves throughout the year, with the final closures coming on 12 December.
Despite the mass closures, Allen insisted that brick-and-mortar branches still have “a vital role to play in the business”.
“We are confident that following these changes we will have the right branch network to serve our customers' changing needs, and we expect the size of our network to remain stable for the foreseeable future,” she said.
Office for National Statistics figures show that almost 6,000 local bank branches have closed down since 2010 - almost one in three.
Here is the full list of the Santander banks set to close their doors this year:
Aberdeen George Street
Acton
Aldershot
Alloa
Amersham
Ammanford
Antrim
Axminster
Aylsham
Ballymoney
Bathgate George Street
Belfast Newtownards Road
Berkhamsted
Bideford
Birmingham New Street
Birmingham Acocks Green
Birstall
Boscombe
Brechin
Brixham
Broadstone
Burnley Briercliffe Road
Buxton
Chandlers Ford
Cheam
Clapham High Street
Cleethorpes
Clitheroe
Coalville
Cockermouth
Cockfosters
Colchester Culver Street West
Corby
Coventry High Street
Crosby
Crouch End
Devizes
Didcot
Dorchester
Dorking
Driffield
East Sheen
Eastcote
Edinburgh Leith Walk
Edinburgh, 194-196 Morningside
Egham
Epping
Esher
Feltham
Fleetwood
Forfar
Four Oaks
Gainsborough
Gerrards Cross
Glasgow Forge Shopping Centre
Glasgow Springburn Shopping Centre
Godalming
Goole
Gracechurch Street
Guildford High Street
Hadleigh
Haslemere
Havant
Heathfield
Helensburgh
Henley-On-Thames
Holt
Hythe
Keynsham
Kingswinford
Kirkcaldy
Knutsford
Lanark
Leather Lane
Leeds Street Lane
Leicester Evington Road
Leicester Uppingham Road
Liverpool Church Street
Llangefni
Ludgate Circus
Lymington
Manchester Cross Street
Marylebone High Street
Middleton
Monmouth
Morden
Newmarket
North Shields
Northwood
Norwich St Stephens Street
Nottingham, 2 Clumber Street
Oakham
Otley
Oxted
Parkstone
Pembroke
Penarth
Plymouth New George Street
Portobello Road
Portslade
Purley
Queensway
Ramsbottom
Rayners Lane
Reigate
Renfrew
Ripon
Romsey
Ryde
Selby Market Cross
Selsdon
Shoreham
Shrewsbury High Street
Sidmouth
Skipton High Street
South Woodham Ferrers
Southend High Street
St Andrews
Stanmore Church Street
Stowmarket
Swiss Cottage
Tavistock
Tonypandy
Totnes
Troon
Ulverston
Upminster
Wandsworth
Ware
Watford, Harlequin Centre
Wealdstone
West Ealing
West Kirby
Wetherby
Windermere
Wisbech
Woodley
Worcester Park
Workington
Yeadon
