By December, one in eight UK financial institution branches open in January would have closed, new figures present.

Almost three-fifths of the financial institution department community have vanished since 2015 and a complete of 636 financial institution branches are as a consequence of shut by the top of this 12 months, with 424 shut to date, analysis by Financial Times based mostly on information from ATM supplier Link exhibits.

As the 12 months involves an in depth, high-street banks are persevering with to announce closures, forcing many individuals who depend on these buildings, to seek out different methods to financial institution.

Bank department closures peaked in 2017, when 869 branches closed, at a price of over 70 a month, in accordance with Which?, which has been monitoring closures since 2015.

The client champion stated 792 websites have been shut in 2018, and 444 in 2019.

Some plans to close branches have been paused throughout the pandemic, and 369 have been closed in 2020 But by the next 12 months, 735 financial institution branches closed, adopted by 662 in 2022.

But the closures have raised considerations that many individuals will now have a restricted entry to money.

The Government addressed the issue final month, with a framework doc that goals to make sure that nearly all of individuals and companies must journey not more than three miles to entry money freed from cost.

The Treasury stated: “While the nation is transferring additional away from utilizing cash and notes with the variety of on-line funds rising from 45 p.c to 85 p.c previously 10 years, money can nonetheless be an integral a part of many companies and folks’s lives."

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) can hold banks and building societies to the new rules, and has the power to fine them if they do not. 

Derek French, a former NatWest executive, said; “For people who are less well off, they can find great difficulty in budgeting if you’re waving a phone or card and don’t get a receipt.

“Cash may be declining but I do think there’s a strong case for having it as an option when you look at the population as a whole.”

Chris Holmes, a Conservative peer and a long-time campaigner for greater equality around access to cash access, said: “What point is having access to cash if you have no place to spend it?

“It’s really critical that everyone understands that point, or there will be certain communities who risk being excluded.”

Sam Richardson, deputy editor of consumer rights magazine Which? Money said: “A closed bank branch doesn’t just mean one less place to withdraw or deposit cash locally.

“[It] also makes getting access to face-to-face banking services harder — something that is particularly important for more vulnerable customers.” 

In addition to the more than 100 branches closing or closed in London this year, the cities of Southampton, Norwich, Dundee and Leeds will all lose multiple branches by the end of 2023.

Consumer group Which? estimates that after this year’s closures, there will be just over 4,000 branches left across the UK, with 5,600 having closed since January 2015, when it began tracking the data.

Banks have been cutting back expensive branch networks for decades, but the rate has grown with the increased uptake of digital alternatives in recent years and was supercharged by the pandemic.

Many of those unable to visit a local branch will soon find help in the shape of a banking hub, that are set to pop up throughout the nation. Bank hubs are a collaboration between the Post Office and lenders in communities with out branches. However, the pace of their rollout has been criticised as a consequence of sluggish launch of them.

John Howells, chief government of Link stated: “I think we will see more branch closures, but crucially, we will see hundreds more banking hubs, and banks will have to stay open until that new hub is live.”

Seven of those hubs, that are managed by put up workplaces, have already been launched, with greater than 60 in complete deliberate for throughout the UK.

The hubs are funded by the banks and designed to supply “back to basics” banking for communities who've seen conventional branches disappear. Customers are ready to make use of the hubs, that are basically shared financial institution branches, to deposit cash, make withdrawals or pay utility payments.

Nearly all main banks are represented on the hubs, together with Adam & Co, AIB, Bank of Ireland, Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Cahoot, Coutts, Co-Operative Bank, Danske, First Direct, Halifax, Handelsbanken, HSBC, Lloyds, Metro, Nationwide, NatWest, RBS, Santander, Smile, Starling Bank, TSB, Ulster Bank and Virgin Money