Several hundred ‘banking hubs’ planned as branches close

Several hundred “banking hubs” and almost as many deposit facilities will be built over the next few years. Initial plans were to create 20 hubs that would be shared by high street banks in areas where they had closed branches. That has now been revised upwards, with 38 in the immediate pipeline. The new hubs will come at the expense of old branches, said Gareth Oakley, who heads a not-for-profit company called Cash Access UK that is funded by 10 of the biggest banks and building societies. “If banks were to continue closing branches at the current rate I would expect there to be several hundred banking hubs and maybe as many deposit solutions,” he said. More than 5,000 branches have closed since 2015. Of the 722 that have been closed since May last year, 165 were the last branch in the local area. The Times (£)