Yorkshire Building Society to axe 440 jobs

Yorkshire Building Society is set to close 48 high street branches, risking 440 jobs.

The mutual has said that the closures will create “better long-term value” to its customers.

Four Norwich & Peterborough Building Society branches, owned by Yorkshire Building Society, will close in East Midlands branches will close in Bourne, Market Deeping, Spalding and Stamford.

28 of the closures will be Norwich & Peterborough branded sites. Closures will begin in September this year.

The Society plans to close its N&P current accounts to existing customers, and withdraw the N&P brand from the high street over the next year.

20 Yorkshire Building Society branches will be closed from May this year, and there will be 260 remaining branches and agencies across the UK, with Yorkshire Building Society as its sole high street brand.

Mike Regnier, chief executive of Yorkshire Building Society, said: “As a mutual, it is important that we always act in the best long-term interests of our membership and evolve the business in line with their changing needs.

“The driving forces behind the proposed branch closures are shifts in market conditions and an increasing desire among customers to transact digitally rather than on the high street. We therefore no longer believe it is the right commercial position for us to continue to maintain these 48 branches across the N&P and Yorkshire network.

“Although we understand the proposal may be disappointing to current account customers, it follows thorough research and assessment. We believe the level of investment required would not represent good long-term value for the wider membership.

“The values of the N&P and Yorkshire brands are synonymous and we believe operating with Yorkshire Building Society as our sole high street brand would allow us to run the business more effectively and efficiently, enabling us to deliver better products and services for our members.

“These proposals would help us achieve that aim and further reinforce Yorkshire’s position as one of the most trusted financial services providers in the UK.”

This comes on the back of the announcement by HSBC that it would be closing 62 branches across the UK, and another by Yorkshire Bank announcing that it would be closing 79 branches, risking the jobs of 400 staff.