Lloyds Banking Group will shut down its Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland mobile banking service, sparking further concern for customers who prefer in-person banking amid widespread bank branch closures.
The banking vans reportedly visit 170 villages and towns every fortnight, helping 6,500 customers in England, Wales and Scotland, but the banking group said visits have fallen by 90 per cent since 2018.
Customers can visit these pop-up branches during set days and times, to pay in cheques, withdraw cash, pay bills, send money abroad, and make general account enquiries.
The mobile branches now help 14 customers on average, with some locations helping two customers, Lloyds said.
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Lloyds Bank is ending its mobile branch service in May 2024
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The banking group has been informing staff and customers of the changes, ahead of the service closing in May 2024.
Sam Richardson, Deputy Editor of Which? Money, said: "While the decision to shut any form of bank branch is a commercial one for individual firms to take, Lloyds' decision is particularly disappointing given these vans were meant to serve rural areas with limited branch coverage.
"It highlights why we need strong regulator involvement, to ensure that alternatives such as shared banking hubs are more quickly rolled out, and then properly maintained."
Lloyds Bank has said it will introduce 32 more Community Bankers to provide targeted face to face banking support, such as for making payments, account enquiries and online banking support in local communities where the mobile branch is ending.
A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson said: “Customers have used our mobile branches much less over time and some locations now have as little as two customers using the service.
“We’ll be introducing more Community Bankers, alongside the other options customers already have for their banking including the Post Office, online, our mobile apps, phone banking, video services and web chat.”
Lloyds Bank announced 1,600 job cuts across its branches last week, amid widespread bank branch closures.
Some 830 jobs will be created to expand the bank’s “relationship growth” team, resulting in an overall loss of 770 jobs.
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Lloyds Banking Group has closed 700 bank branches, across Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, since 2015, according to Which?.
The banking group said the way customers choose to bank has changed “rapidly” in recent years.
More than 21 million customers now bank online or via mobile apps.
Lloyds Bank said eight per cent of customers bank exclusively in a branch.
