Over the past year, 29% of us have seen a bank or building society leave their local area, leaving 38% of Brits worried their local branch will close this year.
A blueprint to restore financial services to towns and high streets across the UK is being piloted in Knaresborough - the initiative aims to give hope to the millions impacted by bank branch closures.
Over the past year, 29% of us have seen a bank or building society leave their local area, leaving 38% of Brits worried their local branch will close this year. Already, 36% live in an area without access to financial services – not just affecting their ability to manage their bank account, but their access to cash and in-person financial advice, which is now more important than ever.
Newcastle Building Society is collaborating with shared bank branch innovator OneBanx to provide access to a multi-bank kiosk in two of its branches in the North East (Gosforth) and North Yorkshire (Knaresborough), as part of a pilot which could potentially be rolled out across the UK.
There is already a banking hub in Cottingham (East Riding of Yorkshire) as part of an initiative by ATM network "Link" to help maintain the cash network (with 3 others in the UK up and running and 9 others proposed).
Banking hubs share banking space on the high street, with dedicated rooms where customers can see community bakers from their own bank. Community bankers work on rotation, with a different banking provider availalbe on each day of the week.
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