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- Juniper Research says digital wallet users to exceed 4.4 billion by 2025, as mobile drives digital payments’ revolution
- Criminals exploit COVID-19 pandemic with rise in scams targeting victims online
- Equifax says Open Banking proving pivotal to pandemic lending
- Mintos says Europeans are starting to embrace investing
- Consumer confidence in banks, credit card providers and investments remain stable as demand supercharges digital finance says Toluna research
- US banks see IT modernisation as a way to improve customer experience
- Risk mitigation in global trade depends on digitisation-Andrew Raymond, CEO, Bolero International comments
- Juniper Research new study says the volume of B2B payments facilitated by non-banks will exceed 53 billion in 2022, from a COVID-related low of 38 billion in 2020
- CMA issues fifth publication over 3 years of the service quality league table of personal and business current account providers
- Barclays says scammers take advantage of COVID-19, cashing in on nations’ uncertainty
- S&P Global report says financial market infrastructure sector's earnings likely to cool off In second half
- Global banking market capitalisation slumps by over 30% amid pandemic says Buyshares research
- Digital wallet spend in Europe & North America to increase by 40% in 2019, finds study
- Juniper forecasts mobile money transactions will exceed 200 billion by 2024
- Banks can save the world from climate change, says former UN climate chief
- Research by NatWest reveals gender divide over attitudes to saving
- Europe’s big bank problem: too much capital is trapped in the US, says Scope
- Later-Life lending market set to almost double in the next 10 years, finds report
- Barclays/Cebr report challenges nation to think differently about wealth
- Fifth of UK investors looking to debt investment, new research reveals
- Regtech will play a more important role in PSD2, says Mitek
- Banks turn to Fintech partnerships to improve customer experience, finds Fraedom
- New industry code to tackle fraud must deliver, says Which?
- New TTF report highlights loss of trust in financial services
- Arxan highlights financial app vulnerability epidemic
- SAS asks whether banks really need to choose between operations and innovation
- Which? raises alarm as almost 1,700 free ATMs become fee-charging
- Financial wellness affects half of peoples’ mental or physical health, finds report
- Study finds traditional financial institutions embrace Fintech disruption
- Grass is greener for environmentally friendly businesses, finds Barclays
- Prospective homeowners would consider a 40-year mortgage to escape renting, finds Santander
- Millennials’ needs are changing the face of banking industry, says new report
- FS is putting consumer data at risk by failing to protect mobile apps, says Arxan
- A lack of belief in their ability holds 28% women back in work, says Cambridge & Counties
- ‘Which?’ reveals Scotland has lost over a third of its bank branches in eight years
- Next downturn unlikely to be as bad as 2008, according to S&P
- FCA reveals findings from first cryptoassets consumer research
- US consumers favour single mobile app for banking and payments
- Banks suffering major IT shutdowns every day, ‘Which?’ reveals
- The US will be a key offshore centre in 2019, says GlobalData
- Debit industry changes markedly in 10 years of the Debit Issuer Study
- UK's ‘Big Five’ face ‘too big to compete’ as small challengers secure stellar returns
- Banks as vulnerable now as before crash, says new study
- Leverage ratio a constant conundrum for European and US banks, says SNL
29th March 2019
‘Which?’ reveals Scotland has lost over a third of its bank branches in eight years
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New analysis from ‘Which?’ reveals that Scotland lost over a third of its bank and building society branches in just eight years, raising concerns that consumers and businesses alike could struggle to access cash across the country.
The consumer champion looked at data from the Office for National Statistics and found 610 fewer banks or building societies across the country in 2018 compared with 2010 – slashing the total number of branches from 1,625 to 1,015.
Further to this, ‘Which?’ found the constituencies that lost the most branches over this period: Edinburgh South West was hardest hit with a massive 135 closures, cutting the network to just 30 remaining branches in 2018. This is followed by Glasgow Central, which lost 70, Edinburgh North & Leith, 65 and Edinburgh East, 45. Meanwhile, Angus, Dundee West, Falkirk and Paisley & Renfrewshire North all lost 15 branches.
‘Which?’ has also carried out its own tracking of branch closures since 2015: In the period since then, RBS has closed the most branches – shutting 158 of the 399 banks that have disappeared. It is followed by Bank of Scotland (86), Clydesdale (59), Santander (38) and TSB (35).
These losses have been compounded by a sharp rise in the rate of cashpoint closures throughout the UK last year, which saw 290 ATMs close in Scotland. The majority of these machines (204) were free-to-use cashpoints that give people access to their cash without having to pay a hefty fee for each withdrawal.
Concerned by the double blow of cashpoint and bank closures across Scotland, ‘Which?’ is calling on the UK Government to give a single regulator a duty to protect access to cash and ensure no-one is left behind by these rapid changes to the payments landscape.
This intervention is badly-needed in rural areas, where, said ‘Which?’, people may face longer journeys to access cash and broadband speeds are gradually improving from a low level. But it is equally necessary in urban areas, where cash is vital as a back-up when card and cashless payments collapse.
While digital payments are rising, cash is still a necessity for more than 25 million people across the UK. A previous ‘Which?’ survey found that 75 per cent of people in Scotland use cash frequently, while just 4 per cent said they rarely use this payment method.
Gareth Shaw, Head of Money, ‘Which?’, said: “These ongoing closures could have a huge impact on communities across Scotland, stripping millions of people reliant on cash of their ability to go about their daily lives.
“Cash is also a vital backup when digital systems fail – so the UK Government must appoint a regulator to oversee these changes and ensure no-one is shut out from paying for local goods and services.”
