Santander has announced it is to close 95 of its existing 444 branches in the UK, as the bank said its customers were increasingly moving towards online banking.

The bank will also reduce hours at 36 branches and remove the front counters from 18 others.

Santander said it seen a “rapid movement” of customers shifting to do their banking online, with a 63% increase in digital transactions since 2019, while financial transactions completed in branches reduced by 61% in the same period.

On top of this, since 2019 the bank has also seen 82% of its current accounts opened digitally, a 56% increase in mobile banking users, an 89% increase in mobile banking app transactions, as well as a 73% increase in mobile logins.

Santander said the changes to its branch network would come in from June and that approximately 750 its employees would be placed at risk of redundancy.

A spokesperson for Santander UK, said: “As customer behaviour changes, we are ensuring that our branches remain fit for the future.

“Closing a branch is always a very difficult decision and we spend a great deal of time assessing where and when we do this and how to minimise the impact it may have on our customers.”

---