HSBC has announced plans to shut a further 114 UK branches, or more than a quarter of its surviving sites.
The UK-based but mainly Asia-focused bank said they would begin to shut from April next year.
The decision, as the wider banking sector has consistently claimed over many years, is the result of the surge in online banking.
It has led to declining demand for over-the-counter transactions, with HSBC saying that some of those to be shut were dealing with fewer than 250 people a week.
Around 100 jobs were expected to be lost.
The bank said it was to invest tens of millions of pounds in updating and improving its remaining branch network, which will total 327 once the closures have been completed.
Jackie Uhi, HSBC UK’s managing director of UK distribution, said: “People are changing the way they bank and footfall in many branches is at an all-time low, with no signs of it returning.
“Banking remotely is becoming the norm for the vast majority of us.
“The decision to close a branch is never easy or taken lightly, especially if we are the last branch in an area, so we’ve invested heavily in our ‘post-closure’ strategy, including providing free tablet devices to selected branch customers who do not already have a device to bank digitally, alongside one-to-one coaching to help them migrate to digital banking.”
The list of branches scheduled for closure and the effective dates, if given:
• Blandford Forum – 18/04/2023
• Bristol Downend – 25/04/2023
• Bexhill on Sea – 18/04/2023
• Leominster – 25/04/2023
• Abergavenny – 18/04/2023
• Market Bosworth – 25/04/2023
• Cromer – 18/04/2023
• Alton – 25/04/2023
• St Ives – 18/04/2023
• Shaftesbury – 25/04/2023
• St Austell – 18/04/2023
• Wilmslow – 02/05/2023
• Stamford – 16/05/2023
• Whitley Bay – 02/05/2023
• Whitby – 16/05/2023
• Coleraine – 02/05/2023
• Bridport – 23/05/2023
• Bideford – 02/05/2023
• Hove – 23/05/2023
• Gainsborough – 02/05/2023
• Fakenham – 23/05/2023
• Launceston – 02/05/2023
• Sudbury – 23/05/2023
• Arnold – 09/05/2023
• Liskeard – 23/05/2023
• Didcot – 09/05/2023
• Bristol Filton – 30/05/2023
• Brecon – 09/05/2023
• Dundee – 30/05/2023
• Minehead – 09/05/2023
• Waltham Cross – 30/05/2023
• Dover – 09/05/2023
• 11 Hinckley Road (Leicester) – 30/05/2023
• Halesowen – 16/05/2023
• Market Harborough – 30/05/2023
• Stroud – 16/05/2023
• Stourport on Severn – 30/05/2023
• Brighouse – 16/05/2023
• Stirling – 06/06/2023
• Twickenham – 20/06/2023
• Pocklington – 06/06/2023
• Ross on Wye – 20/06/2023
• Chepstow – 06/06/2023
• Hertford – 20/06/2023
• Knutsford – 06/06/2023
• Wells – 20/06/2023
• Frome – 06/06/2023
• Bicester – 20/06/2023
• Portadown – 06/06/2023
• Oakham – 20/06/2023
• Penarth – 13/06/2023
• New Milton – 27/06/2023
• Ilkley – 13/06/2023
• Lewes – 27/06/2023
• South Shields – 13/06/2023
• Pontypool – 27/06/2023
• Skipton – 13/06/2023
• Beccles – 27/06/2023
• Honiton – 13/06/2023
• St Neots – 27/06/2023
• Sleaford – 13/06/2023
• Wadebridge – 27/06/2023
• Portishead – 04/07/2023
• Horsforth – 18/07/2023
• Droitwich – 04/07/2023
• Gosforth – 18/07/2023
• Leatherhead – 04/07/2023
• Harpenden – 18/07/2023
• Palmers Green – 04/07/2023
• Bognor Regis – 18/07/2023
• Coalville – 04/07/2023
• Marlow – 18/07/2023
• Park Gate Southampton – 11/07/2023
• Christchurch – 25/07/2023
• Wetherby – 11/07/2023
• Seaford – 25/07/2023
• Port Talbot – 11/07/2023
• Blackwood – 25/07/2023
• Kingswinford – 11/07/2023
• Norwich Mile Cross – 25/07/2023
• Long Eaton – 11/07/2023
• Ripley – 25/07/2023
• Bromborough – 18/07/2023
• Tonbridge – 25/07/2023
• Bristol Westbury on Trym – 01/08/2023
• Bethnal Green – 15/08/2023
• Ormskirk – 01/08/2023
• Hornchurch – 15/08/2023
• Putney – 01/08/2023
• Colwyn Bay – 15/08/2023
• Ashton under Lyne – 01/08/2023
• Dorchester – 22/08/2023
• Kenilworth – 01/08/2023
• Morley – 22/08/2023
• Reigate – 08/08/2023
• Wymondham – 22/08/2023
• North Finchley – 08/08/2023
• Ryde – 22/08/2023
• Cirencester – 08/08/2023
• Windsor – 22/08/2023
• Henley on Thames – 08/08/2023
• Cardiff Rhyd y Penau – 29/08/2023
• Denbigh – 08/08/2023
• Leighton Buzzard – 29/08/2023
• 122 Finchley Road – 15/08/2023
• Eastwood – 29/08/2023
• Chippenham – 15/08/2023
• Oxted
• Hythe
• Epworth
• Cowbridge
• Holsworthy
• Settle
• Tenby
Unite the union has called on HSBC to withdraw the closures to protect vulnerable users. To progress with the closures would “abandon the most vulnerable in our society and leave them without a neighbourhood bank served by experienced knowledgeable staff”.
“This hugely profitable financial institution is walking away from the customers and communities who most need access to local banking services,” Unite national officer Dominic Hook said.
“Of the total 114 closures proposed today the vast majority (108) of the closures will result in no HSBC branch within 3 miles and it is disgraceful that 25 communities will be left to travel over 15 miles to the nearest branch.
“Without any corporate social responsibility to require banks to stay on our high streets to help the elderly, disabled or vulnerable, then access to cash and banking will be lost forever.”