Last month, the Spanish-owned bank announced its Wishaw site would be one of 95 closures across the UK in an overhaul which will put around 750 jobs at risk.
The closing date for Wishaw’s Santander bank has been confirmed.
Last month, the Spanish-owned bank announced its Wishaw site would be one of 95 closures across the UK in an overhaul which will put around 750 jobs at risk.
Santander said it would also cut hours across 36 branches, and switch 18 to be counter-free. The company said it will be left with 349 branches after the sweeping changes.
The final day of trading for Wishaw’s branch will be Tuesday, July 22. This will be after the bank’s Cumbernauld branch closes its doors on July 7.
Santander said the changes were due to an “a rapid movement of customers choosing to do their banking digitally”.
It added digital transactions had increased by just under two thirds since 2019, with a similar drop for transactions in branches.
“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,” a Santander spokesperson said.
Consumer group Which? said Santander’s decision to close almost a quarter of its network “will come as a real blow to many customers”.
“Access to cash remains hugely important for a significant minority who use it to pay for everyday essentials and keep track of their spending,” said the group’s money editor Jenny Ross.
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She said schemes to protect services such as banking hubs “are a good start in plugging gaps left by closing physical branches”, but said they should be rolled out “much more quickly if consumers are to feel their benefits”.
The closure of the Santander branch comes less than a year after Wishaw’s RBS closed its doors for the last time.
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