LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Virgin Money said it would close almost one-fifth of its branches and cut office space as customers increasingly move online during the pandemic.
The bank said 31 of 162 branches would shut in the next few months, generating a £25m restructuring charge in the fourth quarter. Virgin Money will also take a £20m charge as it reduces office space and shifts towards home working.

The charges will take restructuring costs to £145m for the year. The bank also said after integrating the merger of Virgin Money and CYBG it would increase automation by moving to the cloud.

UK banks have closed thousands of branches in recent years to cut costs and as banking moves online. The pandemic has speeded up that shift but regulators are concerned about communities being left without a branch and access to cash.

"Emerging from the pandemic, the group continues to see greater appetite for digital self-service, with customers increasingly adopting digital channels," Virgin Money said. "The steps announced today are the first phase of the acceleration of Virgin Money UK's digital strategy, which will drive further productivity gains and build capacity for ongoing re-investment, further digitisation and in time, greater cost efficiency."

Virgin Money said it would reinvest cost savings from the digital shift into the business to speed up change.

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