TSB is to close 70 more branches next year – nearly a quarter of its remaining network – as more customers shift to digital banking.
The announcement by the lender, described by trade union Unite as a “bitter blow”, adds to the 164 closures announced in 2020 and was blamed on the decline in use of branches by customers, which the bank said had been accelerated by the pandemic.
TSB said 150 employees would be affected but all were to be offered alternative roles at the business.
The bank, which had been swallowed up by Lloyds in the 1990s, reappeared on the high street a separate brand with more than 600 branches in 2013 and was subsequently taken over by Spain’s Sabadell, its current owners.
After the latest round of closures – which are in line with cuts being seen across the banking industry – it will be left with just 220 sites, which it said leaves it as the seventh largest network in the UK.
TSB said that in recent years it had seen a “significant decrease in branch use” and that it saw “no prospect of branch transactions returning to pre-COVID levels”.
The latest announcement follows a strategy set out by the bank two years ago to scale back its high street network and invest in digital services.
Unite’s Sharon Graham said the decision was a bitter blow
It said the branches that are to close carry out around 32% fewer transactions than the TSB national average and that there is a Post Office or free-to-use cash machine within a mile of each affected site.
Source : skynews
