Following the closure of 18 branches in 2006 and six more in January 2007, global banking giant HSBC is reported to be closing a further five UK banks over the next two months as increasing numbers of consumers turn to online banking. According to uSwitch.com, HSBC has also revealed that as many as 100 of its rural branches may be closed in the next year.
The closures come as increasing numbers of UK consumers are turning to the internet for their banking needs, and after UK payments association Apacs revealed that online banking has become more popular that telephone banking for the first time.
The Guardian reported an HSBC spokesman as saying: We closely monitor customer usage of our branches and make decisions regarding changes in staff levels, opening hours, relocations and closures based on usage patterns.
HSBC, which has recently been promoting the benefits of internet banking, citing this method as a more environmentally friendly alternative that saves petrol and paper, has said that the closures are as a result of declining numbers of customers in these branches.
The decision has not, however, gone down well with residents in the areas where the closures are set to take place, and industry campaigners, who fear that increasing community branch closures may leave less mobile bankers without services, have echoed their concerns.
Derek French, director of the Campaign for Community Banking Services, commented: On one hand, we have a bank that says it is committed to improving the environment and is using that to promote products, but then it closes branches, forcing people to get into their cars and travel farther afield to do their banking.