Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland makes HUGE change in bank branches
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LLOYDS Banking Group, owner of subsidaries Halifax and Bank of Scotland is making a huge changes to services across all its bank branches. The banking giant has announced plans to enable customers to access services at any branch regardless of which brand they bank with.
![[The banking group currently operates out of 932 branches across the UK]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/TOB-HUGE-change-in-bank-branches_COMP-1.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
For example, this means that a Lloyds Bank customer will be able to access the same services when visiting Halifax and Bank of Scotland branches, and vice versa. While Lloyds claims this move will provide customers with "access to the UK's biggest combined branch network" and greater flexibility, trade unions have expressed concerns that this is a precursor to widespread branch closures and job losses.
This announcement comes as Lloyds, like many other UK banks, is experiencing a significant shift towards digital banking. Lloyds also stated that increasing its mobile app user base is a key priority, and highlighted the development of updated mobile apps for Halifax and Bank of Scotland.
However, unions have argued that the cross-brand branch access strategy is primarily motivated by cost-cutting and streamlining operations, rather than improving customer experience. Mark Brown, general secretary of BTU, predicts that this change will enable Lloyds to quickly close approximately 233 branches, resulting in thousands of job losses.
Lloyds Bank disputes these claims, stating that BTU is not a recognised union and therefore lacks the necessary insights into the bank's operations to make such predictions. Since June 2022, Lloyds Banking Group has shut 493 bank branches across its three brands.
