The banking giant will close its Sudbury branch on Tuesday, May 23 after seeing a decline in footfall.
The branch is one of five banks that are set to close in Suffolk this year.
Mayor of Sudbury Ellen Murphy said the closure of the branch will be a “very sad day” for the market town.
Mayor of Sudbury Ellen Murphy (Image: Sarah Lucy Brown)
“It’s sad news for both the employees and the customers,” she said previously.
“There are so many places closing and people are losing their jobs – particularly specialised roles.”
A Suffolk Citizens Advice has expressed their concerns over the bank spate of bank closures amid fears older generations are being ‘financially excluded’.
Simon Clifton, chief officer at Citizens Advice Mid Suffolk, said if banks committed to providing a presence in market towns on one day a week, that would be better than nothing.
“At least for one day a week, somebody can go and see their bank so I am fully in favour of more banking hubs being developed and set up,” he said.
When the closures were announced, Jackie Uhi, HSBC UK’s managing director of UK distribution, said: “People are changing the way they bank and footfall in many branches is at an all-time low, with no signs of it returning.
“Banking remotely is becoming the norm for the vast majority of us.
“The decision to close a branch is never easy or taken lightly, especially if we are the last branch in an area, so we’ve invested heavily in our ‘post-closure’ strategy, including providing free tablet devices to selected branch customers who do not already have a device to bank digitally, alongside one-to-one coaching to help them migrate to digital banking.”
