Virgin bank to close branches across the South West

Virgin money is to close five of its banks across the South West.

The lender has announced plans to axe almost a third of its network with the loss of 260 jobs.

The lender blamed changing customer demand for its decision and added some staff will be redeployed.

As a result of the closures Virgin Money will be left with just 91 branches across the UK.

A total of 39 branches are to close by the end of the year. The sites in the South West are:

• Bournemouth
  • Cheltenham
  • Exeter
  • Swindon
  • Bristol

A spokesman for Virgin Money said: “Each store was assessed on an individual basis, with careful consideration of the impact on the local area, as well as the needs of vulnerable customers and the accessibility of alternative services such as free-to-use ATMs and Post Offices.

“Each store closing is less than half a mile from the nearest Post Office, which customers can use to carry out day‐to-day transactions, including cash deposits and withdrawals, cheque deposits and balance enquiries, as well as coin exchange.”

Sarah Wilkinson, chief operating officer at Virgin Money, added: “The decision to close a store is never taken lightly. But as our customers continue to change the way they want to bank with us, by conducting fewer transactions in-store and adopting the convenience of digital banking, we must respond to that evolving demand.

“Our focus is on supporting our customers and colleagues. We have considered the number of vulnerable customers using each store very carefully throughout the review process as a key factor in our decision making, and will proactively provide enhanced, bespoke care to ensure any vulnerable customers affected are supported through the changes.

“For our colleagues, we will pursue all options to retain as many as possible within alternative roles, and have had great success previously with store colleagues moving to other customer operations roles, as their skills are highly transferable.”

Unite national officer, Caren Evans, said: “The staff at Virgin Money UK are understandably devastated.

“Unite has urged the bank to rethink these catastrophic plans to withdraw banking services from communities who very much depend on the skilled and experienced banking staff.

“This decision to pull out of these locations will hurt some of the most vulnerable, disabled and digitally excluded customers.”