Bosses at Santander have insisted the bank remain committed to Lanarkshire, despite announcing plans to cut back on opening hours.
From this summer, branches will close at 3pm instead of 4.30pm, with many also switching to only being open until lunchtime on a Saturday.
Management say the changes are in response to how people handle their banking these days, and that the new format will not result in any redundancies.
Rutherglen MSP Clare Haughey has written to Santander to question its commitment to the area, amid concerns the moves are a precursor to closures.
Correspondence between the MSP and the banking group, which shut a number of branches last year, shows they claim they will remain in Rutherglen in the long term.
Ms Haughey stated: "I am concerned that these changes to opening hours may be the start of a process whereby the Rutherglen branch closes in the near future. I would like to seek your assurances that this is not the case, and that Santander remain firmly committed to Rutherglen.
"Additionally, I note within Mr Owen’s email that there will be “significant new opportunities for branch colleagues, who will receive additional training to help them support customers over the phone, as well as in branch”.
"I would be grateful if you could confirm that this therefore means that there will be no redundancies as part of this change, that no staff are being asked to redeploy to other branches, and there are no changes to the hours that staff work."
In reply, management confirmed that "branches remain an important way of providing a service to our customers and we remain committed to Rutherglen. As part of improving our service more colleagues who currently only support our customers in branch, will also be able to do so over the phone, after they receive the appropriate training.
"This change will also broaden the skills set of many of our colleagues, and I can confirm that there will be no redundancies, redeployment, or reduction in the working hours as a result of these changes."
The changes will take effect from July 18.
The number of customers using Santander’s branches fell by 33 per cent over the two years before the pandemic, a further 50 per cent in 2020 and 12 per cent in 2021, while digital transactions grew by around 20 per cent in each of these years.
The bank has several branches in Lanarkshire, including Hamilton, East Kilbride and Wishaw.
Announcing the proposals, Richard Owen, head of branches at Santander said: “These changes will enable us to maintain our existing branch network while providing significant additional capacity to help customers who want to talk to us by phone.
"We have seen a continuing reduction in branch usage over several years, both before and since the peak of the pandemic, with many customers preferring to transact digitally or contact us by phone. We want to make sure we have the right mix of channels to help our customers however they choose to bank with us."
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