CUSTOMERS inconvenienced by bank branch closures have been urged to use banking services now available at their local post office.
MP Rishi Sunak said 30 post offices in his Richmond constituency – many of them in villages – now offered banking services following a deal between the Post Office and the vast majority of Britain's High Street banks.
The deal involving all of the UK's major banks – including Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, Santander, Nat West, Yorkshire Bank and many of the smaller so-called ‘challenger’ banks like TSB, Virgin Money and Metro – came into effect last month.
It means those bank customers can now carry out routine transactions like withdrawing and depositing cash and colect payments at most local post offices.
Mr Sunak said the new partnership between the banks and Post Office represented the biggest expansion in face-to-face banking in a generation.
He said: "This deal offers many of my constituents the opportunity to do day-to-day banking closer to home and by doing so help to preserve the post office network."
Mr Sunak said he would continue to fight bank branch closures. Before the general election was called he had been due to meet HSBC bosses about their plans to close branches at Leyburn and Stokesley. He has already met Yorkshire Bank to discuss the proposed closure of its Richmond branch.
He added: "It is important that bank customers continue to use the branch network because if they don't that in itself will lead to more branch closures. But it is good to know that this facility is now widely available, particular for those people affected by the recent closures."
The Post Office, which has 11,600 branches nationally, signed the agreement earlier this year to provide nearly all of the large banks’ personal customers and 75 per cent of their small business clients with face-to-face services, from depositing cash and cheques to reviewing balances.
Until last month when the agreement was implemented, various banks have offered limited access through the Post Office — covering only 40 per cent of business customers.
Nick Kennett, chief executive of Post Office Financial Services, said: “When people can get cash locally, they spend it there too. Access to cash plays a vital role in many local communities, acting as the lifeblood to consumers and small businesses.”
The local post office branches now offering the service include the recently re-opened branch at Appleton Wiske which Mr Sunak supported by lobbying the Post Office.