South Shields bank branch set to close

Yorkshire Bank has revealed it is close 39 branches in 2017, placing up to 200 workers at risk of redundancy.

One of the branches set for the axe is at Denmark Centre, where it's thought up to 14 people are employed.

The closure of the South Shields site is expected to take place on April 19 - with the next nearest branch being in Sunderland.

In September 2016 CYBG PLC, the parent company of Yorkshire Bank, announced that its branch network would be reducing as part of a strategy to create a truly integrated digital, mobile, telephone and branch service for its customers.

Gavin Opperman, customer banking director for Yorkshire Bank, said: “While the decision to close any branch is never an easy one, it is important that we, in line with other banks operating in the UK market, continue to respond to changes in the way customers want to bank with us.

“The changes announced today continue our journey towards a model that combines an enhanced digital platform with a right sized branch network; allowing customers to interact with us through a wide range of channels – mobile, online, telephone, in-branch – whenever and however they want.”

Since 2011, the number of customers using their bank for day-to-day transactions across the banking industry in the UK has fallen by a third. This ongoing decline in branch usage, married to a sharp and sustained increase in digital and mobile engagement, has driven a shift to providing greater access to day-to-day banking services remotely, on the move and outside of normal business hours.

To support this transformation the Bank is committing £350m over the next two years, embracing digital innovation while continuing to invest in a more sustainable branch network to deliver a superior customer experience. The benefits of this approach can already be seen through a significantly enhanced digital offering, a programme of new flagship branch openings and refurbishments.

It is the Bank’s intention to try to find roles for frontline branch staff either within other branches or elsewhere in the bank, wherever possible.