Lloyds Bank to close 136 branches in further blow to high street
By Frank Prenesti
Date: Wednesday 29 Jan 2025
(Sharecast News) - The slow death of high street banking continued on Wednesday as Lloyds Banking Group said it was closing another 136 branches across the UK.
There were no details of how many staff would lose their jobs, but the bank said staff working in the affected branches would be offered another role at another branch or in a different part of the business.
It is shuttering 61 Lloyds branches along with 61 Halifax and 14 Bank of Scotland sites, starting in May with a forecast completion date of March 2026.
The latest round of closures will bring the total down to 756 by the end of March 2026.
"Lloyds is trying to stay lean as it deals with a few cyclical headwinds. Mortgages issued during the pandemic are coming up for renewal at less profitable levels. There's also an ongoing impact from consumers shifting to longer-term savings accounts in search of better rates," said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter," Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown:
"Keeping the lights on and tills staffed for few customers at a time is an expensive endeavour, especially with wage costs going up. But provision for more vulnerable clients who find online banking harder to access money still needs to be made."
"Crucially, there needs to be enough cashpoints to serve the local community. Under new FCA rules banks and building societies must assess whether changes to local services, like closing branches or cash machines, leave local communities lacking ways to take out or pay in cash."
Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com
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