Yahoo Finance Santander to close 111 branches this summer
Spanish lender Santander has become the latest banking giant to slash the number of branches and offices it owns after the pandemic left buildings largely deserted.
The footprint of banks across the country is shrinking after the mass experiment of working from home proves that staff do not need to be at their desks five days a week, while branches grow quieter and quieter as the pandemic pushes more people onto online banking.
Santander, which has a heavy presence on UK high streets, said it will close 111 branches across the country by the end of August after branch transactions plummeted 50pc last year. The move will affect around 840 jobs.
The closures come months after the City watchdog urged banks to hold back on axing branches until coronavirus restrictions are lifted following a wave of cutbacks across the industry. The battle to preserve branches was high on MPs’ agenda even before the pandemic amid concerns that vulnerable customers who do not use online banking could be cut off from their money.
Residents in the North Yorkshire town of Hawes, the home of Wensleydale cheese, last year fought back on further closures, with one resident saying some elderly people had “sleepless nights” over the cost-cutting measures. That prompted Newcastle Building Society to open in the town while Barclays abandoned plans to close its cash machine.
Santander's chief executive Nathan Bostock insisted that there will be no further cuts for the foreseeable future, adding that the business will still have 452 branches. Most of the branches closing are within three miles of another branch.
The bank said it has also decided to close offices after staff said they wanted to work from home after the pandemic, triggering closures in Bootle, Newcastle, London Portman House and Manchester Deansgate. It is also relocating its headquarters from London to Milton Keynes.
Mr Bostock said one of the reasons the bank chose Buckinghamshire town Milton Keynes is because of its connection to the Second World War code-breaking site Bletchley Park.
"The ability to bring technology talent into that arena is strong [as a result]," he said. The company is building a £150m technology hub in the town.
After successfully working from home for a year, many bankers see no reason to go back to their old ways while companies have spotted an opportunity to cut costs. Nationwide this week said it was closing offices and letting 13,000 people work where they want.
Bank bosses are insistent that the offices that do remain will be transformed. Mr Bostock said existing offices will become "collaboration spaces" where instead of working at a desk "you will see a work surface where you can draw up a chair or multiple chairs".
