Name of bankīank of America Merrill Lynch International Limited The list is based on the definition of 'bank' in the glossary of the PRA Handbook. The UK government owns a stake of 48.1% of NatWest Group's ordinary shares, but the bank remains nominally independent of government Ī full list of businesses considered banks by the Prudential Regulation Authority are listed in the table below. ^ Includes NatWest, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank.^ Includes Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland (including Halifax, Birmingham Midshires and Intelligent Finance).The retail and commercial banking markets are dominated by HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group and Spanish-owned Santander UK (most of these companies operate more than one banking brand in the UK). On 18 September 2008, Lloyds TSB plc entered into a confirmed agreement to take over HBOS plc, which took effect on 19 January 2009, when HBOS was acquired and folded into Lloyds Banking Group. The number of independent banks shrank further during 2008: Northern Rock was nationalised by the UK Government (and is now owned by Virgin Money), followed by Bradford & Bingley Alliance & Leicester was acquired by Santander, who merged it into Santander UK. Unlike some other major economies, the UK does not have a major stratum of independent local banks. Local high-street shops need their local communities more than ever, and the gradual retreat of banks, which bring all-important footfall, poses another existential threat.Further information: Big Four (banking) § United Kingdomīritish banking has been highly consolidated since the early 20th century. Mulligan added: “The shift online is irreversible, but so, too, is the damage that a bank leaving a high street can cause for the shops that surround it. Robin Bulloch, TSB’s chief customer officer, said: “Closing branches is an incredibly difficult decision to take, but we have to respond to the changes in the way people bank and provide the right mix of services for all our customers now and into the future.” He added that the bank had already opened “pop-up” services in 41 locations and a further 10 were now planned.Īccording to the consumer body Which?, banks and building societies have closed or announced the closure of about 4,300 branches since January 2015, not including the latest announcement.ĭr Jackie Mulligan, the founder of and one of the government-commissioned High Streets Task Force experts, said: “This news is yet another hammer blow to the UK high street, which is already reeling after nearly two years of pain.” More than nine in 10 transactions are now carried out digitally. TSB said that in recent years it had seen a significant decrease in branch usage, with the average number of transactions per outlet falling since January 2019 and “no prospect of branch transactions returning to pre-Covid levels”. In March, Santander revealed it was closing 111. In October this year, Lloyds Banking Group said it would be closing a further 48 branches, while in September, Virgin Money announced it was shutting 31 outlets for good. It added that the branches that were closing conducted about one-third fewer transactions than the TSB national average, and there was a post office or free-to-use ATM within a mile of each affected outlet.Ī series of branch closures have been announced during the pandemic, with financial institutions insisting customers are spurning traditional counter service in favour of online banking. TSB said it remained committed to a UK-wide branch network and that, after the cuts, it would still have the 7th largest network in the UK. Its branches closing next year are spread across the country, from Thurso on the north coast of the Scottish Highlands to Exeter in Devon. TSB is the latest in a line of banks to announce it is slashing its network in response to what it said was a continuing decline in branch use and increasing numbers of customers switching to digital banking – a trend accelerated by the pandemic.
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