Full list of 23 NatWest branch closures happening in…

Full list of 23 NatWest branch closures happening in 2023

NatWest is closing 23 more branches around the UK as more people move to banking online, it has confirmed. The high street lender announced on Thursday (January 26) it is shutting 21 sites in England and two in Wales in 2023. This is on top of the 43 closures the bank announced last October.

The branches closing include sites in Southampton, Exeter, Blackpool and Torquay, which will shut their doors for good between April and the start of June. Timings for the closure of two sites - Horwich, in Greater Manchester, and Shoreham-by-Sea, in West Sussex - are still to be confirmed.

The lender said last year the vast majority of its retail banking services could be carried out online and it was the "quicker and easier" way to bank. But it acknowledged certain customers might be concerned about the closures and said it would make sure "no one is left behind".

NatWest previously said average counter transactions had shrunk by nearly two-thirds between January 2019 and January 2022, while there was a 39% rise in people using mobile apps during the same period. Last year, the bank also announced 15 branch closures in May and 21 in February.

The news comes a week after Lloyds Banking Group said it would close 40 Halifax and Lloyds sites in England and Wales, blaming a decrease in footfall during the pandemic and a rise in the use of its digital services. According to Lloyds, the number of people visiting the branches it plans to shut has fallen by 60% on average over five years.

So far in 2023, some 87 bank branches around the UK are set to be closed down.

Just last week, Barclays confirmed plans to shut 15 more of its branches. The lender had already earmarked 11 sites for closure this year.