New bank pledges to open up to 60 North West branches

A new bank serving the North West of England said it will reverse the industry trend of closing physical branches by opening around 60 branches across the region.

NW Mutual, the mutual bank to be based in and for retail and small business customers in the region, has revealed the locations of its proposed branch network,

It includes 17 earmarked for Lancashire, 20-plus proposed in Greater Manchester, another 12 for Liverpool and Merseyside, potentially 10 in Cheshire and another six planned for Cumbria.

The proposed ‘bricks, clicks and flicks’ business model of NW Mutual will deliver hi-tech and staffed branches, complemented by mobile and online banking, providing retail and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) customers with a full range of financial products and services. 

The location of the headquarters of the bank, headed by recently appointed senior financial services executive Dave Burke, is yet to be confirmed but will be in the North West and due to open in the second quarter of 2025.

Dave said: “When our plans are finalised, NW Mutual will open approximately 60 branches across the North West, with the first branch and head office also in the region.

“Our aim is to provide access to as many people and businesses in the North West as possible, with 95% of residents and small and medium-sized businesses within a 30-minute drive to a branch.”

He added: “Whilst we have specific locations in mind to achieve this, we also want to listen to the people and businesses of the region and welcome thoughts and suggestions on branch locations.”

Dave, from Bolton, recently joined NW Mutual, a co-operative society launched in response to more than 50% of traditional bank branches in the region having closed and the lack of banks based in, and dedicated purely to serving the people, business and organisations in the North West.

While Lloyds Banking Group recently announced the closure of another 136 branches by March 2026, consumer group Which? said banks and building societies had closed a total of 6,266 branches since January 2015, equating to about 53 closures every month. 

NW Mutual’s target market is about 7.4 million people and 494,395 SMEs in the region employing more than 1.65 million people and generating turnover in excess of £239bn in 2024.

Dave added: “Our market research, supported by a large body of public research and information, shows a proven need and demand for a bank that’s trustworthy, democratic, ethical, deeply rooted in the North West and that enough people and businesses in the region would use to make it a great success.

“The North West is more than capable and large enough to create and sustain a prosperous bank. When we achieve our goals, our mutual bank will recycle more than £900m of money from the North West back into the region.

“This is serious money and it’s already here but it’s not. We want to stop it leaking out and heading South, North or East.”

Having already registered NW Mutual Ltd with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the regulator of financial services firms and markets in the UK, David is preparing a banking licence application to submit to the Bank of England in late 2025.

If the licence is granted, the first bricks and mortar branch is planned to open in the third quarter of 2026, with a full roll-out proposed for the first quarter of 2027.

About £1m has been invested to build the systems and financial model of NW Mutual, prepare the banking license application and analyse its market.  

David Milner, chair of NW Mutual, is an executive and non-executive director of regulated financial services companies, including being chairman of Dudley Building Society and Nottingham Imperial Building Society, while non-executive director, James Moore, has more than 25 years of boardroom experience with private and public businesses in sectors including financial services in the UK, China, Europe and Africa, while also founding the Community Savings Bank Association.

They are in the process of recruiting other senior executives to the board of NW Mutual, including a finance director.

The potential and yet to be confirmed locations for branches are: 

• Lancashire: Preston, Accrington, Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, Clitheroe, Chorley, Lancaster, Leyland, Lytham St Annes, Morecambe, Nelson, Rawtenstall, Fleetwood, Garstang, Skelmersdale.
• Greater Manchester: Altrincham, Ashton-under-Lyne, Bolton, Bury, Droylsden, Eccles, Hyde, Harpurhey, Hyde, Leigh, Longsight, Manchester, Manchester Victoria, Oldham, Rochdale, Sale, Salford, Stockport, Stretford, Urmston, Wigan, Wythenshawe.
• Liverpool and Merseyside: Bebington, Birkenhead, Bootle, Crosby, Formby, Huyton, Kirkby, Knowsley, Liverpool, Prescot, Speke, St Helens.
• Cheshire: Chester, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Northwich, Runcorn, Warrington, Widnes, Winsford.
• Cumbria: Barrow-in-Furness, Carlisle, Kendal, Keswick, Penrith, Whitehaven.