Santander issues urgent branch closure update message | Personal Finance | Finance
Banking giant Santander has issued an update to furious customers after being inundated with complaints following its announcement that 95 UK branches will close this year.
The high street giant has sent messages to fuming customers to update them on what will happen to their in-person bank access following the decision to cull 95 branches after a ‘major review’. The Spanish-owned banking giant said it was shutting 95 of its 444 branches across Britain from June, while also cutting hours across 36 sites and switching 18 to be counter-free to “better serve the changing needs” of its customers. Santander will be left with 349 branches after the overhaul, which will include 290 full-service sites as well as five ‘work cafes’.
Following the news, customers took to X to tell Santander how they will be affected, with older customers in particular worried about their banking services.
@jenksusieq said: “Know my opinion doesn’t matter but I’m so disappointed you are closing the New Milton branch which is always busy especially with the elderly. I swapped from HSBC so I could pay cash in branch. That will leave only Nationwide in New Milton now.”
@riotgrandma72 said: “If you are an oldie, don’t have access or trust online banking, YOU ARE f*****! Same with train tickets! And when the whole internet gets switched off in some cyber attack, what then? Eh? Fed up with being excluded!!”
@david_duguid said: “WHY am I finding out from the press that you’re closing down the last bank in town at which I’m a customer? Why are customers the last to to be told? And don’t say the staff need to be told first, because they’ll have already found out from the press as well!”
Santander replied to customers to tell them it will be introducing ‘community bankers’ in the affected areas.
In response to one complaint, they said: “Thanks for getting in touch. I am very sorry to hear you feel this way. We’ll be introducing community bankers in the places where our branches are closing.”
It added: “We will be contacting all potentially vulnerable customers by phone and will assist those customers of closing branches to find other ways to bank that best suit their needs. A dedicated phone number is available to provide customers with help and information on the closures (0330 678 2469).”
In a statement announcing the changes, Santander had said: “We’re making changes to some of our branches. This includes reducing the opening hours of some, converting some to ‘counter free’ and closing others.
“We’ve made this decision off the back of a recent review of our branches. This review looked at where our branches are located, how they’re used and the other local banking options available.
“We last did a major review of our branches in 2021. Since then, many of our customers are choosing to use mobile, online and telephone banking more, and branches less.
“We’ve put together impact assessments for each of the impacted branches. These provide more details on our review and all the ways you can bank with us. You can get a copy by clicking on your preferred branch further down this page. If you’d like a hard copy, these are available in branch.”
