Virgin Money to shut 39 branches resulting in 255 potential job losses

Virgin Money has announced it will be closing 39 of 91 of its bank branches by the end of the year to account for lower customer demand.

The sites affected have seen the number of customer transactions fall by an average of 43 percent, but the planned closures could result in up to 255 redundancies.

However, Sarah Wilkinson, chief operating officer at Virgin Money said the firm would “pursue all options” to retain as many staff possible “within alternative roles.”

Ms Wilkinson said: “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.

“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.”

The closures will impact branches across the UK, from Belfast and Cardiff to Irvine and London. However, Virgin Money has said every affected branch is less than half a mile from the nearest Post Office.

Virgin Money said written notification will be sent to customers for each affected store, and posters will be displayed at least 12 weeks before they close. Customers will also be told alternative methods to access their cash locally.

According to reports, Virgin Money branches in the following areas will close by the end of the year:

• Belfast
• Chelmsford
• Enfield
• Hexham
• London Haymarket
• St Albans
• Bournemouth
• Cheltenham
• Exeter
• Irvine
• Milton Keynes
• Swindon
• Brighton
• Chester
• Fort William
• Kendall
• Newton Stewart
• Turrif
• Bristol
• Croydon
• Golders Green
• Kensington, London
• Norwich
• Wolverhampton
• Bromley
• Derby
• Gosforth Centre
• Kingston
• Oxford
• Cambridge
• Durham
• Guildford
• Liverpool
• Reading
• Cardiff
• Ellon
• Harrow
• Lochgilphead
• Southampton.

Virgin Money joins several other of Britain’s big banks with announced closures, which will see over 400 branches shuttered collectively across the UK this year and the next.

Barclays most recently announced 14 new branch closures to add to its total list comprising 156 locations into next year.

HSBC, NatWest, Lloyds, Santander, Halifax, TSB, the Bank of Scotland, and RBS will also be closing hundreds of branches as a result of a drop in in-person customer demand.