Bank Closures Criticised By BSA Chief

Banks and former building societies have slammed the doors shut on one in five of their branches since 1995, startling new research has shown.

The report by Nottingham University suggests that a fifth of branches have bitten the dust in the last 11 years, compared with only one in twenty of existing building societies' premises.

It was found that the closures are more likely in poorer metropolitan areas, perhaps where traditional manufacturing industries have hit decline – and this was met with anger by Adrian Coles, director general of the Building Society Association (BSA), who lamented that banks are sacrificing customers for profitability.

He said: "Over the next few weeks we will see banks once again announcing record profits. This report is a timely reminder that the pressure to squeeze every last drop of profit has meant abandoning less lucrative customers and closing one in five of their branches.

"Former building societies are little better, and while some people may have benefited from the temporary windfall of a demutualisation, there are many more communities who today do not have a branch within easy access, as a result."

This will come as interesting news for the government's Financial Inclusion Task Force, which was set up to tackle the problems of bank and building society closures and the growing spectre of financial exclusion in poorer communities.