Kevin Peachey
Cost of living correspondent, BBC News
Lloyds Banking Group is to shut another 136 branches by March next year, arguing that customers are increasingly using digital channels for their day-to-day banking.
It is the latest in a string of branch closures, with the bank – and its rivals – already working through previously announced closure plans.
The latest announcement will see 61 Lloyds, 61 Halifax and 14 Bank of Scotland branches be closed gradually from May.
It comes the day after a government minister stressed the importance of access to cash for vulnerable people.
Lloyds blamed the decision to shut the branches on customers shifting away from banking in person to using mobile services.
Transactions across these branches fell by an average of 48% over the past five years as customers used its app more for payments, Lloyds said.
The plans will bring the Lloyds brand down to 386 branches, Halifax down to 281 branches and Bank of Scotland to 90 branches once completed.
The bank said all workers at the affected branches would be offered jobs elsewhere in the company.
The consumer group Which? said that banks and building societies had closed 6,266 branches since January 2015, at a rate of around 53 each month.
A Lloyds spokeswoman said customers still had plenty of choice, owing in part to a decision to allow customers to use services across its brands – a move that a union warned could lead to more branch closures.
“Alongside our apps, customers can also use telephone banking, visit a community banker or use any Halifax, Lloyds or Bank of Scotland branch, giving access to many more branches,” she said.
“Customers can also do their everyday banking at over 11,000 branches of the Post Office or in a banking hub.”
However, only 100 of these hubs – which see banks sharing premises for basic banking services – have opened so far across the UK, with another 100 scheduled to open. Concerns have been raised that some are without basic facilities, such as printers.
Under relatively new rules, branch closures must be assessed by Link, which also oversees the cash machine network, in case it leaves areas without access to cash deposit and withdrawal services.
As part of the latest announcement, banking hubs have been recommended in 21 locations: Annan, Alexandria, Bishopbriggs, Brigg, Caterham, Glossop, Falmouth, Fleetwood, Helensburgh, Horsforth, Houghton le Spring, Hucknall, Leominster, Manchester Moston, Nelson, Peterlee, Seaton, Sleaford, Thornbury Avon, Tunstall and Wymondham.
Emma Reynolds, the new economic secretary to the Treasury, said the government was committed to more hubs being opened to ensure vulnerable people, in particular, had access to cash.
However, she ruled out legislating to force shops and service firms to accept cash. They can choose to go card-only, should they wish to.
Banking industry figures show only 12% of payments are made with cash, but 1.5 million people mainly use notes and coins in their daily lives, many of whom find it easier to budget with physical money when facing cost-of-living pressures.
