Major Closure Alert: Northern Ireland High Street Banks Shutting Down

Northern Ireland High Street Banks Closure

Six high street banks in Northern Ireland are set to close next month as a wave of summer closures are set to take place across the UK. More than 80 banks across the United Kingdom will close next month with 69 having shut their doors throughout the course of the month of May. But even more closures are due in June - a total of 85 banks. That includes 25 branches of NatWest, 24 Santander branches, 15 Lloyds banks, 13 Halifax branches, seven Bank of Scotland branches, and one TSB. By the end of next month, 240 banks will have closed in 2025, with dozens more set to shut in July and August.

Impact and Response

Since a voluntary agreement saw the major banking groups commit to assessing the impact of every closure in February 2022, 1,879 bank branches have shut or announced their intention to close. That’s an average of around 50 closures announced per month or 12 per week. The LINK initiative to assess the impact of closures - which was agreed by all the major banks including Barclays, HSBC, Natwest, Lloyds, and Halifax - was set up to ensure vulnerable customers and small businesses were not left behind in the switch to cashless payments and virtual banking. When closures leave communities without any local bank, banking hubs or free ATMs are set up to fill the gap.

Digital Banking Trends

The latest closures come as people increasingly do their banking online. A new report from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that 9.7 million people, or about 18% of adults, visit their bank branch at least once a month, although that has slumped from 40% in 2017. Around 3.3m people (7% of current account holders) had not done any online banking in the last year.