A number of bank branches will close in Merseyside and beyond this year, with more to shut up shop in 2025.
Some 245 banks set to close in 2024, with another six branches also due to shut but with no end date yet announced. Meanwhile, the closure of 15 banks in 2025 has already been announced.
Of all those impending closures, the loss of 89 branches will leave the surrounding communities with no alternative branches of any bank. And given recent trends, it is likely more closures will be announced.
READ MORE: NatWest and RBS to shut 19 more banks including Liverpool branch
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Since February 2022 a huge 1,325 banks have either shut or announced their intention to close. That’s an average of 55 closures announced every month or almost two per day.
A number of banks in Merseyside are set to shut their doors. These include the Barclays branch on Allerton Road, and the NatWest on Prescot Road.
You can see all the upcoming bank closures in our interactive map below:
The LINK initiative to assess the impact of closures – which was agreed by all the major banks including Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, Lloyds, and Halifax – was set up to ensure vulnerable customers and small businesses were not left behind in the switch to cashless payments and virtual banking.
When closures leave communities without any local bank, banking hubs or free ATMs are set up to fill the gap.
The wave of bank closures has affected every part of the UK, with a total of 1,107 lost in England alone, plus another 92 in Scotland, 83 in Wales, 42 in Northern Ireland, and one in the Isle of Wight.
Around a quarter of those closures (356, or 27%) have left the surrounding community with no branch of any bank nearby.
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