Full list of Santander bank branch closures as high street bank announces it will shut 95 locations across Britain
Santander has announced it will close 95 branches across the UK, putting 750 jobs at risk.
The banking giant said it was shutting the branches in June, while also cutting hours across 36 sites and switching 18 to be counter-free.
Santander currently has 444 branches across the UK, meaning it would be left with 349 after the overhaul.
The majority of the planned redundancies are related to the branch closures, but about 12 per cent of the cuts are because of the reduced-hour proposals.
Customers are increasingly switching to online banking, with a 63 per cent surge in digital transactions since 2019 while branch transactions have slumped by 61 per cent in that time, according to the firm.
Santander said that from June 30, the majority of the reduced-hours branches will be open just three days a week - either Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9.30am to 3pm, or Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9.30am to 3pm and Saturdays from 9.30am to 12.30pm.
It will change 18 sites to being self-service counter-free branches from June 16, but stressed these branches will also be manned by staff to offer support.
The group will be recruiting 95 new community bankers in the locations where it is shutting branches and hopes to redeploy some of the affected workers into these jobs.
The news comes after it was reported in January that Santander may be looking to quit Britain over 'excessive red tape'.
Banking giant Santander has announced 95 branch closures which put 750 jobs under threat (file photo)
According to the Financial Times, it is thought the potential departure from the British Isles is down to frustrations over UK rules introduced after the 2008 financial crisis, which has led to lower returns for the bank than in other markets.
There are some 14million Santander customers who could be impacted if the alleged plans go ahead.
A Santander UK spokesman said of the latest plans: 'As customer behaviour changes, we are ensuring that our branches remain fit for the future.
'Our new combination of full-service branches, alongside work cafes, counter-free branches and reduced hours branches, aims to provide the right balance between digital banking and face-to-face money management and guidance.
'As a business, we must move with customers and balance our investment across all the places where we interact with customers, to deliver the very best for them now and in the future.'
The company added: 'Closing a branch is always a very difficult decision and we spend a great deal of time assessing where and when we do this and how to minimise the impact it may have on our customers.
'However, we believe that the introduction of our new Community Bankers and the exciting plans we have for our remaining network of 349 branches and Work Cafés, alongside the rapid and innovative improvements to our award-winning mobile banking app, will provide the right balance of digital banking and human interaction when required.'
In response to reports that Santander might pull out of the UK, a spokesperson for the company said: 'The UK is a core market for Santander and this has not changed.'
Here MailOnline has put together a full list of all the branches that are set to close and the dates they will shut in the summer.
SANTANDER BRANCH CLOSURES
Aberdare, Glamorgan (June 24)
Arbroath, Angus (June 17)
Armagh, County Armagh (July 1)
Blackwood, Gwent (June 23)
Blyth, Northumberland (August 5)
Bognor Regis, West Sussex (July 14)
Borehamwood, Hertfordshire (July 1)
Brecon, Powys (June 25)
Brixton, south London (August 11)
Caernarfon, Gwynedd (July 7)
Camborne, Cornwall (July 7)
Canvey Island, Essex (August 5)
Clacton, Essex (June 16)
Cleveleys, Lancashire (June 23)
Colne, Lancashire (July 14)
Colwyn Bay, Clwyd (July 24)
Crowborough, East Sussex (July 23)
Croydon, south London (June 16)
Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire (July 7)
Didsbury, Greater Manchester (July 8)
Downpatrick, County Down (August 6)
Dungannon, County Tyrone (June 23)
Edgware Road, central London (August 12)
Eltham, south-east London (June 23)
Exmouth, Devon (July 15)
Customers are increasingly switching to online banking, with a 63 per cent surge in digital transactions since 2019 (file photo)
Falmouth, Cornwall (July 21)
Farnham, Surrey (July 29)
Felixstowe, Suffolk (July 16)
Finchley, north London (August 6)
Fleet, Hampshire (June 30)
Formby, Merseyside (August 11)
Gateshead, Tyne and Wear (June 16)
Glasgow (St Vincents Street, June 24)
Glasgow (The Avenue, June 23)
Greenford, west London (June 24)
Hackney, east London (July 15)
Hawick, Roxburghshire (July 24)
Herne Bay, Kent (July 8)
Hertford, Hertfordshire (July 29)
Holloway, north London (July 14)
Holywell, Clwyd (August 13)
Honiton, Devon (July 14)
Kidderminster, Worcestershire (June 18)
Kilburn, north-west London (June 17)
Kirkby, Merseyside (July 22)
Launceston, Cornwall (June 16)
Louth, Lincolnshire (June 17)
Magherafelt, County Londonderry (June 24)
Malvern, Worcestershire (July 2)
Market Harborough, Leicestershire (July 1)
Musselburgh, Midlothian (June 30)
New Milton, Hampshire (July 28)
Peterhead, Aberdeenshire (June 16)
Plympton, Devon (August 14)
Portadown, County Armagh (June 30)
Pudsey, West Yorkshire (July 28)
Rawtenstall, Lancashire (July 15)
Ross-On-Wye, Herefordshire (HR9 5HD)
Ruislip, west London (July 7)
Rustington, West Sussex (August 5)
Saltcoats, Ayrshire (July 21)
Seaford, East Sussex (July 15)
Shaftesbury, Dorset (July 23)
Sidcup, south-east London (August 11)
St Austell, Cornwall (July 8)
St Neots, Cambridgeshire (July 30)
Stokesley, Cleveland (July 31)
Strabane, County Tyrone (July 23)
Surrey Quays, south-east London (November 10)
Swadlincote, Derbyshire (June 30)
Tenterden, Kent (July 7)
Torquay, Devon (June 17)
Tottenham, north London (July 8)
Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear (August 6)
Willerby, North Humberside (August 13)
Wimborne, Dorset (August 4)
Wishaw, Lanarkshire (July 22)
A person uses an ATM cash machine at a branch of a Santander bank in Liverpool, north west England, on March 19
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Bexhill, East Sussex (Date TBA)
Billericay, Essex (TBA)
Dover, Kent (TBA)
Droitwich, Worcestershire (TBA)
Dunstable, Bedfordshire (TBA)
East Grinstead, West Sussex (TBA)
Holyhead, Gwynedd (TBA)
Ilkley, West Yorkshire (TBA)
Larne, County Antrim (TBA)
Lytham St Annes, Lancashire (TBA)
Maldon, Essex (TBA)
Morley, West Yorkshire (TBA)
North Walsham, Norfolk (TBA)
Redcar, Cleveland (TBA)
Saffron Walden, Essex (TBA)
Turriff, Aberdeenshire (TBA)
Uckfield, East Sussex (TBA)
Urmston, Greater Manchester (TBA)
It comes after the firm shut 111 branches in 2021 - about a fifth of its network at the time - as part of a previous major network review.
Today's announcement follows similar moves by banking rivals, shutting down branches and cutting jobs.
Lloyds Banking Group revealed in January it would close 136 high street branches - 61 Lloyds, 61 Halifax and 14 Bank of Scotland sites between May this year and March 2026.
The move came weeks after the finance firm shook up its business to allow customers of Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland to use stores across any of its brands.
Santander said today that the latest decisions follow a 63 per cent increase in digital transactions since 2019.
Financial transactions completed in branches are said to have fallen by 61 per cent in the same period.
Banks and building societies have closed more than 6,000 branches since January 2015 - at a rate of about 53 each month, according to consumer champion Which?
In the wake of the Horizon IT scandal, the Post Office is also planning to close 115 branches, leaving many communities with nowhere to access their money or discuss financial issues in person.
And Jenny Ross, money editor at consumer group Which?, today warned Santander's newly announced branch closures would 'come as a real blow to many customers'.
She said: 'Schemes introduced by the banking industry to protect these services, such as banking hubs, are a good start in plugging gaps left by closing physical branches, but they must be rolled out much more quickly if consumers are to feel their benefits.
'The government must hold banks' feet to the fire to ensure the commitments they've made to set up 350 hubs by 2029 are met - and should be prepared to review the target upwards if necessary.'
While many people now use their bank's app or telephone banking to manage their cash, there remains a large proportion who are unable to do so.
According to charity Age UK, only 14 per cent of those aged 85 and above bank online, - with 58 per cent relying on face-to-face banking.
Mike Regnier (pictured) has been chief executive of Santander UK since April 2022
The ongoing wave of branch closures has triggered fears that elderly, isolated people risk being hit hardest.
Bank bosses have been accused of 'engaging in a race to close branches', which resulted in the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introducing measures to ensure a 'reasonable provision of cash deposit and withdrawal services' last year.
NatWest Group, which comprises NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank, has closed 1,428 branches since January 2015 - the most of any banking group, research by Which? revealed.
Lloyds Banking Group was hot on NatWest Group's heels, however, shutting down 1,243 locations over the same period.
Which? also reported that Barclays was the individual bank that has most dramatically decreased its branch numbers, with 1,228 branches now closed over the last nine years.
While the rate of closures had initially appeared to slow down since reaching a peak in 2017, researchers said that in 'recent years there has been a troubling surge'.
During the pandemic, branch closures dropped to 369 in a single year, but that number was outstripped within the first three months of 2021.
Sam Richardson, from Which? Money, said: 'This milestone of more than 6,000 bank branch closures in just nine years underscores the seismic shift that has taken place in terms of our banking habits and the character of the high street.'
