/retail banking

News and resources on retail banking, consumer finance and reinventing customer experience in finance.

Santander UK to close 111 branches and overhaul office space

Banco Santander to is to shutter 111 branches in the UK and shift its headquarters to a new purpose-built campus in Milton Keynes.

  3 Be the first to comment

Santander UK to close 111 branches and overhaul office space

Editorial

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community.

Santander is currrently negotiating with unions over the redeployment of 840 staff impacted by the closures.

The bank says branch traffic dipped by 50% last year as the coronavirus swept the nation.

Santander's head of branches Adam Bishop says: “Branch usage by customers has fallen considerably over recent years so we have made the difficult decision to consolidate our presence in areas where we have multiple branches relatively close together."

As part of a wide-spread overhaul of its real estate needs. Santander is investing £150 million to build a new campus in Milton Keynes, and closing offices in London, Manchester, and Newcastle.

The footprint of other offices in London and the regions will also be reduced as the bank plans to allow the 5000 staff affected by the cuts to work from home or in new "local collaboration spaces".

Ceo Nathan Bostock says: "The pandemic has accelerated the existing trend towards greater flexible working, and our colleagues have told us this has brought significant benefits for many of them."

The news comes hard on the heels of similar moves by Nationwide Building Society which is closing three offices in Swindon and allowing all staff to choose where they work, including at local branches.

Sponsored [Webinar] Reaping the benefits of Hyper-Personalisation with AI and Application Modernisation

Related Company

Keywords

Comments: (0)

[On-Demand Webinar] AI in Banking: Building Compliant and Safe Enterprise AI at ScaleFinextra Promoted[On-Demand Webinar] AI in Banking: Building Compliant and Safe Enterprise AI at Scale