Santander To Close in Leighton Buzzard
The Leighton Buzzard branch of Santander is to close as part of a 44 branch closure plan. Closing branches will be replaced by Community Bankers, operating either from a Santander Local or, where required, a Banking Hub, to provide ongoing face-to-face support for communities. ATM network Link have said that they propose making Leighton Buzzard its 250th banking hub location.
Santander have cited the changes in customer banking behaviour as the reason behind the closures which has followed the pattern of other banks.
Changing customer behaviour
Santander has seen a rapid increase in customers choosing to do their banking digitally, with 96% of all transactions now being completed in digital channels1. Since 2019, there has been a 64% rise in digital transactions, while financial transactions completed in branches reduced by 66% in the same period. Over the last year alone, there has been a 13% decrease in the volume of financial transactions taking place in branch.2
In addition, since 2019, the bank has seen3:
- 83% of current accounts opened digitally
- 67% increase in mobile banking users
- 109% increase in mobile banking app transactions
- 70% increase in mobile logins
A spokesperson for Santander UK, said: “In response to a continuing and sizeable shift towards customers using digital banking, we are making changes to our branches to better support our customers. We will continue to invest in both our branch network – comprising of full-service branches, counter-free branches, reduced-hour branches, Santander Locals, and our increasingly popular Work Cafés – as well as our digital banking services, so we can be there to support our customers however they choose to bank with us.”
Balancing digital investment with human connection
All Santander current and business account holders can also bank using one of over 11,000 Post Office branches nationwide and more than 200 Banking Hubs. All branches that are closing are within 1.4 miles of the nearest Post Office.
Nationwide Building Society are still in Leighton Buzzard and assured their customers that they would still be open until at least 2030.
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