Banks: Closures

(asked on 19th December 2017) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the social effects of bank branch closures on lower-income communities.


Answered by
Steve Barclay Portrait
Steve Barclay
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
This question was answered on 21st December 2017

The Treasury does not collect data relating to bank branch closures.

While the decision to close a branch remains a commercial judgement for banks, the impact on communities must be understood, considered and mitigated where possible.

The industry’s Access to Banking Standard, launched in May 2017, commits banks to inform customers and stakeholders of the decision to close a branch as soon as the bank is operationally ready to do so. Banks must provide a minimum of 12 weeks’ notice but are free to provide more. RBS, for example, generally provides 6 months’ notice. The Access to Banking Standard also ensures customers understand the options they have locally to continue to access banking services, including specialist assistance for customers who need more help. Banks’ obligations under the Access to Banking Standard are monitored and enforced by the independent Lending Standards Board.

99% of banks’ personal and 95% of banks’ business customers are now able to withdraw cash, deposit cash and cheques, and make balance enquiries at a Post Office counter via its network of 11,600 branches. At Autumn Budget 2017, I wrote to the Post Office and UK Finance to ask them to raise public awareness of the banking services available at the Post Office for individuals and SMEs. Government will have provided nearly £2 billion during the period 2011 to 2018 to maintain and modernise the Post Office network, and has recently announced an additional £370 million of funding for the period 2018-2021.

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