(qlmbusinessnews.com via theguardian.com – – Thur, 25th March 2021) London, Uk – –
Bank says staff will be offered new arrangements, including working from home
Santander is to close 111 branches across the UK affecting around 5,000 staff, as the coronavirus pandemic pushed more customers to embrace digital banking for most of their banking needs.
The bank said that affected staff will be offered new working arrangements that will combine working from home with “access to local collaboration spaces”.
Santander said the majority of sites that are to be closed are less than three miles from another branch.
In addition, the bank said all current and business account holders will still be able to bank in person at 11,00 post office branches.
The bank said Covid had quickened changing customer habits, with branch transactions falling by a third over the two years before the onset of the pandemic, and by a further 50% last year.
The closure programme will start on 24 June, with four branches in London and one in Glasgow among the first to shut, with all 111 to be closed by August.
“Branch usage by customers has fallen considerably over recent years and we have made the difficult decision to consolidate our presence in areas we have multiple branches relatively close together,” said Adam Bishop, a Santander executive. “The majority of the closing branches are within three miles of another branch and the furthest is five miles away.”
He said Santander, which will continue to operate a network of 452 branches across the UK, did not intend further cuts to its network of outlets.
“We continue to believe that branches have an important role to play and we expect the size of our network to remain stable for the foreseeable future,” he said.
The move follows rival HSBC announcing that it land to close 82 branches over the next 12 months.
By Mark Sweney
