Lloyds Banking Group to shut another 136 UK high street branches
Lloyds Banking Group to shut another 136 UK high street branches
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Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland branches to close as group accelerates shift to digital and mobile banking. Lloyds Banking Group has revealed plans to shut another 136 branches, weeks after a policy allowing customers to do their in-person banking across any of its three brands sparked fears that bosses could close up to a quarter of its high street sites.
The move will cut the group’s branch network by a further 15%, accelerating a massive shift towards digital and mobile banking that is core to a five-year strategy being driven by its chief executive, Charlie Nunn. It will result in the closure of 61 Lloyds-branded sites, 61 Halifax locations and 14 Bank of Scotland branches, and leave the group with 757 branches by spring next year.
Lloyds said the closures reflected customer usage across those 136 branches, and on-site transactions had tumbled 48% on average – and up to 78%, in some cases – over the past five years. The decision comes weeks after the bank rolled out a new policy allowing customers to use any of its Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds branches, regardless of which lender they held accounts with. It prompted unions to raise concerns about branch closures and potential job cuts, given that about 25% of the lender’s branches were within close distance of one another, according to a 2023 estimate.
The bank has been trying to find ways to cut costs amid political pressure over the slow demise of in-person banking services. Campaigners fear that the shift is leaving older and more vulnerable customers, who may struggle to bank online, at risk of financial exclusion.
