GENSOCIAL
Three HSBC UK branches in Birmingham and the Black Country are set to close later this year as part of sweeping changes by the high street banking giant.
The trio of sites is among 82 identified for the bank’s closure programme which is set to commence on April 23 and be completed by the end of September.
Those in Wednesbury and Four Oaks in Sutton Coldfield will close in May and Erdington will shut in July.
The branches remaining open will then be categorised into one of four formats which are related to customers’ needs based on analysis of their behaviour.
These are full-service branches, cash service branches for customers who need greater access to cash, counterless branches with self-service only and pop-up branches.
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Birmingham will continue to be served by branches in the HSBC UK head office in Centenary Square, New Street, the Jewellery Quarter and Sutton Coldfield.
The bank said the covid-19 pandemic had seen a greater shift to online usage but insisted the closures were not entirely related to the lockdowns and restrictions.
Staff in those sites facing closure are expected to be redeployed to others within 15 miles of their homes.
Jackie Uhi, head of network for HSBC UK, said: “The covid-19 pandemic has emphasised the need for the changes that we are making.
“It hasn’t pushed us in a different direction but reinforces the things we were focusing on before and has crystallised our thinking.
“This is a strategic direction we need to take to have a branch network fit for the future.
“Making sure we have a sustainable branch network is essential to us and decisions to close branches are not taken lightly.
“By ensuring we have the most suitable branch format in each specific local market that we serve, we will ensure we are in good shape to meet the challenges ahead.”
She added that, putting aside the impact of the pandemic, the number of customers using branches had fallen by a third over the last five years.
Ninety per cent of all customers contact the bank either over the phone, internet or smartphone and staff talk with more than 100,000 customers a week on social media.
Of the 82 branches identified, 81 are within a mile of a Post Office, two thirds are within five miles of another HSBC UK branch and nine in ten are within ten miles, according to the bank.
