Heathfield loses another bank as Santander announces branch closure.
25th January
Santander announced on January 23 this week, that they are making changes to its branch network and plan to close 140 branches in response to changes in how customers are choosing to carry out their banking. The number of transactions carried out via Santander branches has fallen by 23% over the past three years, while transactions via digital channels have grown by 99% over the same period.
Many people in Heathfield will be disappointed to hear that their branch is one of those being closed, the date given is June 13 2019. The town had recently lost Natwest, and there now only remains Barclays and Lloyds.
Santander announced that it has consulted its trade unions on the proposed changes and will seek to find alternative roles for the 1,270 colleagues affected wherever possible. They expect to be able to redeploy around a third of those affected and will be supporting colleagues over the coming weeks as the consultation process continues.
The bank stated that they will support customers of closing branches to find other ways to bank that best suit their needs, including individual help to find alternative Santander branches and access digital, telephone and Post Office banking services. Santander will retain a nationwide network of 614 branches following the proposed changes. All Santander current and business account holders can also bank using one of over 11,000 Post Office branches across the UK.
Susan Allen, Head of Retail and Business Banking, said
“The way our customers are choosing to bank with us has changed dramatically in recent years, with more and more customers using online and mobile channels. As a result, we have had to take some very difficult decisions over our less visited branches, and those where we have other branches in close proximity.
“We will support customers of closing branches to find alternative ways to bank with us that best suit their individual needs. We are also working alongside our unions to support colleagues through these changes and to find alternative roles for those impacted wherever possible.”
“We continue to believe that branches have a vital role to play and we will be refurbishing 100 of our branches over the next two years. We are confident that following these changes we will have the right branch network to serve our customers’ changing needs, and we expect the size of our network to remain stable for the foreseeable future.
Anyone wanting to visit a branch of Santander will need to go to Uckfield, which will be the nearest location. In a rural community with very little public transport, this will obviously cause great inconvenience for Santander customers coming from the Heathfield area.
Click on this link to find your nearest Santander branch.
