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Lloyds Banking Group plans to close more than one in 10 of its branches across Britain in a fresh blow for the high street.
The banking group, which owns Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, is to close 136 of its high street banks, representing 15pc of its estate across the country. The company blamed the shift to online banking for the closures.
Closures span 61 Lloyds branches, 61 Halifax locations and 14 Bank of Scotland outlets. They will shut between May this year and March 2026.
All workers at high street branches affected by the closures will be offered jobs elsewhere inside the group, the bank said.
The closures are part of plans set out in 2022 for Lloyds to become the UK’s leading digital bank. A spokesman said: “Over 20m customers are using our apps for on-demand access to their money and customers have more choice and flexibility than ever for their day-to-day banking.
“Alongside our apps, customers can also use telephone banking, visit a community banker or use any Halifax, Lloyds or Bank of Scotland branch, giving access to many more branches.
“Customers can also do their everyday banking at over 11,000 branches of the Post Office or in a Banking Hub.”
Transactions at branches impacted by the closures had, on average, fallen by 48pc over the past five years, Lloyds said. Lloyds said it recorded 10m fewer in branch transactions in 2024 compared to in 2023 across all its high street shops.
The plans come just weeks after Lloyds Banking Group announced an overhaul of its business to let customers of all its bank brands use all three of its Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland branches to do business.
Lloyds has already closed hundreds of UK branches since Charlie Nunn was appointed chief executive of the bank in August 2021. Most recently, in September 2024, Lloyds announced plans to close 55 high street branches.