Britain’s Lloyds Banking Group is shutting 44 bank branches across England and Wales this year, as Bankers across the industry intensify cost-cutting measures.
Banks have ramped up branch closures after many did restructuring for most of last year in response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Lloyds affirmed the closures in a statement and said they were because of fewer clients utilizing the branches, after union Unite challenged the move.
“In the same way as other businesses on the high street, we should change for a future where branches will be utilized in an alternate manner, and visited less frequently,” Vim Maru, retail director for Lloyds, said.
The most recent round of branch terminations from Lloyds comes after the lender last November said it had resumed actions to close a further 56 branches, after it briefly stopped closures during the pandemic.
Union Unite said it had revealed to Lloyds that branches kept on offering a fundamental assistance to communities.
“As of late LBG has spent critical resource to sell its message of ‘Aiding Britain Recuperate’, Unite national official Caren Evans said.
“Unite genuinely question how this choice to abandon local communities promotes this message when the clients will depend on the financial services support like never before.”
