Barclays has been named and shamed as the bank planning to close most branches this year.
The High Street lender aims to shut 68 branches – leaving just 244 by the end of 2024.
It plans to axe another six in 2025, meaning that after the closures Barclays will have shut 83 per cent of its branches in a decade.
In total, more than 60 per cent of the 10,000 bank branches that were open in 2015 will have shut by the end of 2024, according to The Mail on Sunday’s analysis of Which? figures.
That amounts to 6,047 closures over the past nine years, with just 3,838 outlets still open.
Observers said the closures affect many customers – especially those applying for mortgages or dealing with bereavement. Small firms that rely on cash, and people who do not use online banking are also cut off when their branch closes.
Independent consumer rights expert Martyn James said: ‘There is no substitute for face-to-face financial advice – particularly with vital services like mortgages. The decimation of the network potentially leaves countless people at the mercy of policies and deals they don’t fully understand. This does not bode well.’
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Lloyds plans to close 56 branches this year, leaving it with 523 after closing 60 per cent of its network in a decade.
Halifax, owned by Lloyds, will shut 42, leaving it with 417. The former building society will by then have closed 38 per cent of the 667 branches it had nine years ago.
NatWest will shut 21 outlets, taking its total to 439.
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