Santander to reduce opening hours across hundreds of branches

Santander is reducing the opening hours of a whole lot of branches, saying it’s responding to altering buyer habits.

The financial institution mentioned all however 4 of its branches would now shut at 3pm on weekdays as a substitute of the present 4.30pm, whereas greater than two-thirds would shut at 12.30pm as a substitute of 4pm on Saturdays. Pre-booked face-to-face appointments might be out there exterior the brand new hours in sure circumstances.

The adjustments, which take impact on 18 July, comply with department closure bulletins by quite a few rival banks. Lloyds Banking Group mentioned in March that it was axing 60 branches , and HSBC lately mentioned it’s shutting 69.

Santander mentioned there could be no closures as a part of its adjustments, and that every one of its 450 retailers would stay open each weekday. In March final 12 months the banking group introduced the closure of 111 branches throughout the UK – a fifth of its community.

The brand new Monday to Friday opening hours of 9.30am to 3pm apply to all branches besides for 3 which are in procuring centres, plus an outlet in Leeds.

The financial institution mentioned that between 3pm and 5pm on weekdays, employees could be out there to see clients who wanted assist that might not be supplied via various channels or earlier within the day, and an identical association would apply to the 316 branches shifting to half-day Saturday opening.

The financial institution has blamed the adjustments on a drop in department utilization and a change to digital banking. It mentioned the variety of clients utilizing its branches fell by 33% over the 2 years earlier than the pandemic, then by an additional 50% in 2020, and 12% in 2021.

It added that to strengthen phone help for patrons, department employees could be educated to assist individuals on the cellphone alongside their present face-to-face roles. Department employees serving to clients who name on the cellphone was launched as a pilot through the pandemic.

There might be no obligatory redundancies or discount of worker working hours on account of the adjustments, mentioned a spokesperson.

Jenny Ross, cash editor at shopper physique Which?, mentioned Santander “deserves credit score for taking higher account of buyer wants than a few of its rivals which have slashed their department networks with out setting up affordable options”.

However she added: “This continues a regarding total development of banks chipping away at face-to-face providers and opening hours … The federal government should announce, in subsequent month’s Queen’s speech, the laws it has promised to guard money for so long as it’s wanted.”