Banking Hub Trial Expands

A trial scheme that explores the feasibility of banking hubs — shared bank branches for communities where their local branches have closed down — is to extend in 2022 to Knaresborough.

The North Yorkshire town currently has no bank branches following the closure of the last one in March 2021, and has only two ATMs for residents. As a result, customers have been forced to travel to nearby Wetherby or Harrogate in order to carry out any in-person banking.

The new banking hub will be launched sometime in the next year — the decision on when exactly, and the location of the new hub, are yet to be decided but should be confirmed early in 2022.

Falling Branch Numbers

The new branch will be set up by the Access to Cash Action Group (ACAG) which had already set up two similar banking hubs in Essex and South Lanarkshire. The banks that will be involved in the banking hub at Knaresborough are Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide Building Society, NatWest, Santander, TSB and Danske, accounting for many of the major high street banks.

Customers will be able to use the banking hub for basic cash services, such as making deposits and withdrawals, along with a select few other services to be determined by each respective bank. Certain services will still require customers to travel to a dedicated branch.

A representative for ACAG said that they were delighted to announce the new banking hub in Knaresborough, showing that the pilots run so far had been successful. They acknowledged that while the demand for cash is on the decline, there are still five million people in the UK who rely on it, including some of the more vulnerable members of society.

The Office for National Statistics has reported that the number of bank branches in the UK is now around 7,000. In 2012 there were 11,300 bank branches in the UK, a decline of approximately 38%.

This is great news for Knaresborough, a town starved of its banking facilities. I am sure this new facility will be well-used by residents, businesses and visitors.

Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones

Cash PayPoint Trial Also Expands

Another trial that has been running in the UK to help provide more access to cash is set to expand soon. The scheme allows customers to withdraw cash at a shop with a PayPoint network, without needing to make a purchase from the shop and with no charges. It’s currently available in 900 stores in the UK and that number will soon rise to 2,000.

Customers are able to withdraw any amount they want to between 1p and £50 — they are not limited to making withdrawals in a rounded £5 or £10 amount. During the last 12 months when the trial has been active, over 24,800 transactions have been made by customers, with an average withdrawal amount of £27.81.

The number of ATMs has also fallen drastically — since 2018, 25% of the free-to-use cash machines in the UK have disappeared, along with almost 1,000 pay-to-use machines.