Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what criteria her Department plans to use to identify locations for banking hubs; and if she will set out a timetable for rolling out hubs in constituencies affected by branch closures.

The Government recognises the importance of banking to communities and high streets and has committed to work closely with banks to roll out 350 banking hubs over the next five years. These will provide individuals and businesses up and down the country with critical cash and banking services.

Banking hubs are a voluntary service developed by the financial services sector in the context of legislation to protect individuals’ and businesses’ access to cash deposit and withdrawal services under the Financial Services Act 2023. Their rollout is overseen by Cash Access UK, a not-for-profit company set up and funded by the banks for the purpose of coordinating banking hub delivery. LINK, the operator of the UK’s largest ATM network, is responsible for assessing a community’s needs regarding access to cash. Where LINK considers that a community requires additional cash services, Cash Access UK will provide a suitable shared solution, such as a deposit service, or a banking hub, for cash users in that community.

So far, 147 banking hubs have been recommended and Cash Access UK expects 100 banking hubs to be open before the end of the year.