PostedMay 19, 2022, 12:30 p.m.
Several British banks, such as Barclays, HSBC or Lloyds have been multiplying the closures of branches across the country for several years.
Half of the country’s 10,000 agencies will disappear between 2015 and the end of 2022, according to the consumer association Which?.
AFP
Amid growing branch closures across the country, London is set to extend the powers of the market regulator to ensure banks maintain access to cash for the millions of Britons who use it in their daily life.
New regulations will give the Markets Regulator (FCA) ‘new powers’ over the country’s biggest banks ‘to ensure cash withdrawal and deposit facilities are available’ across the UK , according to a press release released Wednesday evening.
Decision “inexcusable”
The new measures will be integrated into a draft law on financial services and markets, specifies the government, which will then define “the reasonable distance” that a user may be forced to travel to deposit and withdraw his money.
The Unite union denounced Wednesday the “inexcusable” decision of the Lloyds banking group to close 28 branches, only two months after the announcement of the closure of 60 other branches. “It is a betrayal to some of the most vulnerable, elderly and socially excluded people in our communities, who need access to banking services,” according to the union.
But Lloyds is not the only bank to close branches with a vengeance in the United Kingdom: half of the 10,000 branches in the country will have disappeared between 2015 and the end of 2022, according to the consumer association Which?. British authorities are already asking establishments to assess the impact of branch closures on consumers and possible alternatives.
Alternatives
Major banks such as Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds or NatWest have recently agreed to fund alternatives together, and the country’s main ATM network, LINK, is tasked with assessing situations on a case-by-case basis. .
Several options have been tested and are in the process of being deployed: banking service kiosks from the start-up OneBanks, “banking hubs” installed in the premises of the Post Office group or even improved post offices and withdrawals from merchants.
The rise of online transactions is leading banks to cut back on a less used banking network. But according to the government, cash is the second most used means of payment in the UK, with around 5.4 million adults relying heavily on it in their daily lives.
(AFP)