Two of the country’s biggest banking giants announced last week that they are closing another 63 branches, taking away services from local communities around the UK. Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group between them announced a series of 63 closures, which are due to take place later this year or early next year, including 19 across Scotland.
Barclays said on Friday it was closing 10 branches, while Lloyds is closing 21 Lloyds Bank sites, 15 Halifax and 17 Bank of Scotland between September and next May. The rapid closure of the UK’s banking network comes as more and more people choose to almost exclusively use online banking, rather than visiting a branch.
Lloyds said that across its brands more than 20million customers regularly use online banking, and that visits to the 53 branches it is shutting have dropped by an average of 55 per cent in the last half-decade. The worst hit branch slated for closure has seen footfall drop by 73 per cent.
