Santander closures - The West Midlands branches that are set to close under latest bank cuts
Around 750 jobs are at risk at Santander UK after the high street lender announced a raft of branch closures and reduced opening hours.
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While most West Midlands branches have survived the cull, Kidderminster's Santander branch is set to close at 3pm on June 18.
Santander said the nationwide closures would take place between June and December of this year, while also cutting hours across 36 sites and switching 18 to be "counter-free".
A document posted online by Santander entitled "understanding why your branch is closing" signposts customers to their nearest remaining branches - either 8 miles away in Stourbridge of 14 miles away in Worcester.
The assesment adds that 93% of our customers in the Kidderminster branch use other methods of banking, such as online and telephone banking.
"Before reaching the decision to close our Kidderminster branch, we looked at the way our Kidderminster branch customers are choosing to bank with us, the proximity of other Santander branches in the surrounding area, the availability of other ways to bank in the local area, such as the Post Office, ATMs and Banking Hubs [ands] the impact it would have on our staff.
"We’ll be reaching out to our personal and business customers who, due to their personal circumstances, might have an increased vulnerability risk and have used the branch once or more between July 2024 and December 2024."
A total of 349 branches of Santander will remain after the overhaul, which will include 290 full-service sites as well as five so-called "work cafes".
A statement from Santander said the decision had been made in response to customers using alternative methods of banking.
"We’re making changes to some of our branches. This includes reducing the opening hours of some, converting some to ‘counter free’ and closing others," said the bank in a statement.
"We’ve made this decision off the back of a recent review of our branches. This review looked at where our branches are located, how they’re used and the other local banking options available.
"We last did a major review of our branches in 2021. Since then, many of our customers are choosing to use Mobile, Online and Telephone Banking more, and branches less."
The changes will put about 750 jobs at risk – more than 4% of its 18,000 UK workforce – if the plans get the go ahead after consultations with unions, the bank said.
