Lloyds group to close 60 branches in 2022 - including Halifax and Bank of Scotland sites

Lloyds Banking Group will close 60 branches this year including Bank of Scotland and Halifax locations.

The closures, announced on the same day the Chancellor made his Spring Statement, will mean the banking group will have 1,416 branches left in total at the end of 2022. It closed 95 branches last year.

Lloyds said fewer customers were choosing to visit branches in person and online banking usage had increased last year.

This year it will close 24 Lloyd branches, 19 from the Bank of Scotland and 17 Halifax sites.

Here, Which? takes a closer look at which branches are closing and what it means for customers who rely on them.

Which branches are closing?

Here are the locations of all the HSBC branches due to close in 2022 confirmed by the bank on Wednesday 23 March.

You can use the search bar to see if your local branch is affected. In the table, BoS refers to Bank of Scotland.

• Find out more:is your local bank branch closing?

Why are more branches closing?

Lloyds Banking Group said it needed to adapt to the trend of more customers choosing to do everyday banking online.

It said it has 18.6m regular online banking customers and over 15m mobile app users - these increased 12% and 27% respectively in the last two years.

Vim Maru, Group Retail Director of Lloyds Banking Group said: 'Our branch network is an important way for us to support our customers, but we need to adapt to the significant growth in customers choosing to do most of their everyday banking online.'

Workplace union Unite said the closures will result in 124 job losses - Lloyds said it would support all staff impacted.

• Find out more:can you bank at the Post Office?

New Banking Hubs will open

This is the third round of branch closures since new measures were agreed to protect access to cash.

In December, the Cash Action Group (CAG) announced that any community facing the closure of a core cash service, such as a bank branch or ATM, will trigger an independent review by LINK - the UK's main ATM operator.

LINK will determine whether a new solution should be provided and will have the power to commission services such as a shared banking hub or better Post Office services to meet the cash needs of the community as a whole - not just the customers of one bank or building society.

LINK has confirmed that three new banking hubs will be set up in Buckingham (Buckinghamshire), Cottingham (Yorkshire and Humber, near Hull) and Troon (Ayrshire) as a result of the closures.

Banking Hubs provide basic banking services including counter services run by the major banks and the Post Office, and dedicated rooms where customers can see community bankers from their own bank.

The opening of the hubs will be carried out by a bank-owned delivery body - The Banking Hub Company.

These new hubs will join two locations already running in Cambuslang (South Lanarkshire) and Rochford (Essex) and five already announced for Acton (West London), Brixham (Devon), Carnoustie (Angus), Knaresborough (North Yorkshire) and Syston (Leicestershire).

All these sites are expected to open later this year.

• Find out more:banks announce access to cash solutions - are they enough?

Almost 400 bank branches will close in 2022

Which? has been tracking bank branch closures since 2015.

Banks and building societies have closed (or scheduled the closure of) 4,887 branches since January 2015, at a rate of around 60 a month.

This year 150 bank branches have closed already and another 248 are scheduled to shut their doors - a total of 398. And more could be announced inthe coming months.

Last week HSBC announced it would close 69 branches this year.

In February Natwest announced it would be closing 56 branches this year - including 12 RBS sites.

Metro Bank also announced it would be closing three stores, Earl's Court, Milton Keynes and Windsor.

To find out whether your local bank branch is closing or has recently closed, we've created a unique tool to show shutting down branches in your local authority - click here to find out more.

• Find out more:best and worst banks

How can cash access be protected in the future?

Bank branch closures make it harder for people to access their cash for free.

We believe only legislation from the Government can protect the future of cash.

We welcomed Chancellor Rishi Sunak's pledge to protect cash in the 2020 budget - but two years later we are still waiting for this long-promised legislation.

In July 2021, the Treasury launched a consultation on how cash legislation could work, including proposals to make the FCA the lead regulator for ensuring that people can continue to withdraw cash locally, which includes powers to hold the banking industry accountable if the further decline of the cash network would put access under threat.

This consultation closed in September, but the findings have not yet been published.

We're calling on the government to act now - and for the system to be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Jenny Ross, Which? Money editor said: 'The timing of this announcement, on the day of the Spring Statement, suggests Lloyds is well aware of how unpopular bank closures are with the millions of people in this country who rely on bank branches to withdraw cash and use in-person services.

'While the pandemic has accelerated the shift to digital banking for many, a significant minority of consumers aren't yet ready or willing to take the leap. Proposals to protect access to cash by the banking industry, such as banking hubs, could play a role in preserving local access to cash, but they must be targeted and of sufficient scale to plug the gaps left by bank closures.

'Underpinning those proposals must come long-promised and much-needed government legislation to protect cash for as long as it is needed.

• Find out more:Learn about our Freedom to Pay campaign