RISHI Sunak is to meet the chiefs of two banks to discuss branch closures in North Yorkshire.
Following HSBC's decision to close its Leyburn and Stokesley branches, and Yorkshire Bank's intention to close its Richmond branch, Mr Sunak is arranging the meetings in London with the banks' senior executives.
At the meetings he will be joined by the MP for Thirsk and Malton, Kevin Hollinrake. HSBC's Easingwold branch and Yorkshire Bank's Norton and Pickering branches are also earmarked for closure.
Julian Smith, MP for Skipton and Ripon, is likely to join the meeting with Yorkshire Bank to discuss its decision to close the Ripon branch.
Mr Sunak said: "We are realistic about these closure announcements. They are unlikely to be reversed. However we all want to make sure that the banks are doing all they can to mitigate the hardship these closures will cause some customers."
The Richmond MP said he also wanted to discuss a specific assurance he was given by HSBC about the Leyburn branch's future less than six months ago and just after the bank had announced the closure of the Hawes branch.
Mr Sunak set up the meetings in a week when he visited Barclays Bank's Richmond branch where he met staff and senior regional managers.
He was told about the bank's work in the community, particularly it's match-funding funding scheme whereby every pound an employee raises for a local community initiative is matched pound-for-pound by Barclays.
He also heard about the work the bank was doing with its customers to help them use the bank's digital services.
But he was also reassured that Barclays had no plans to reduce its branch network in North Yorkshire, although some smaller branches might reduce at some point in the future reduce the number of days there were open.
Mr Sunak said: "I was very much encouraged by what I heard about Barclays' commitment to the local communities its serves."