HSBC closes 82 more branches

eskbanker

Continuing the long term trend, HSBC have announced the closure of 82 branches, but their spin doctors have chosen to brand this as an 'evolution' of their network!

https://www.about.hsbc.co.uk/-/media/uk/en/news-and-media/210119-branch-evolution-final.pdf
https://www.about.hsbc.co.uk/-/media/uk/en/news-and-media/210119-hsbc-uk-branch-list-2021-final.pdf

London7766551

I think we both created a thread at the same time!  I marked mine as deleted

https://news.sky.com/story/hsbc-to-shut-82-bank-branches-as-customers-shift-online-12192374

My local branch is on the list, it is always full with a queue out the door. It is a tiny branch as well, with the machines often being broken. Their excuse is hilarious. Why I don't doubt some branches are dead now, mine certainly is not. Yet it is being closed.

HSBC has announced plans to shut 82 UK branches this year after a shift towards telephone and internet banking.
The bank said it would "aim to redeploy all customer service colleagues who are impacted... into suitable nearby locations" but did not immediately say how many jobs were affected.
HSBC said the decision reflected "local market trends, customer behaviour and branch usage" and would see the total number of branches reduced to 511.

k12479

London7766551 said:

Why I don't doubt some branches are dead now, mine certainly is not. Yet it is being closed.

Then it's because all those people queuing out the door are providing insufficient business to cover the cost of providing them with a branch.

London7766551

k12479 said:

London7766551 said:

Why I don't doubt some branches are dead now, mine certainly is not. Yet it is being closed.

Then it's because all those people queuing out the door are providing insufficient business to cover the cost of providing them with a branch.

It is a shame they have not even tried to seek interest for charges to cover some of the branch cost. There are many wealthy individuals in the area. I know they bank with HSBC as I have seen some of them have the purple card. Even advanced customers I am sure would pay. I would. £5/10 a month.

gt94sss2

London7766551 said:

k12479 said:

London7766551 said:

Why I don't doubt some branches are dead now, mine certainly is not. Yet it is being closed.

Then it's because all those people queuing out the door are providing insufficient business to cover the cost of providing them with a branch.

It is a shame they have not even tried to seek interest for charges to cover some of the branch cost. There are many wealthy individuals in the area. I know they bank with HSBC as I have seen some of them have the purple card. Even advanced customers I am sure would pay. I would. £5/10 a month.

I would be very surprised if other customers would be willing to pay anything just to keep their local branch open - no matter what kind of account they hold.

As you say yourself, your branch is tiny and HSBC want fewer but larger branches going forward.

HSBC are actually closing some decent sized branches in that list as well - in areas where there are usually (pre Covid) lots of office workers..

It will be interesting to see what their new 'pop-up' branches will fare.

Thrugelmir

London7766551 said:

k12479 said:

London7766551 said:

Why I don't doubt some branches are dead now, mine certainly is not. Yet it is being closed.

Then it's because all those people queuing out the door are providing insufficient business to cover the cost of providing them with a branch.

It is a shame they have not even tried to seek interest for charges to cover some of the branch cost. There are many wealthy individuals in the area. I know they bank with HSBC as I have seen some of them have the purple card. Even advanced customers I am sure would pay. I would. £5/10 a month.

Fintech is the way forward, a cashless society. 

born_again

HSBC are all about profit & keeping the stakeholders happy. Government should have not allowed banks to give dividends again. Staff are not getting bonuses, despite having to work throughout lockdowns. So why should shareholders get a payout...

It's time that the banks got together and decided on one building in a town that they all shared. Would give everyone who needed branch access and more importantly for the bean counters a nice money saving
Would guess it would stop a lot of people leaving one bank for another as the branches close & the I want to bank in branch group carry on.

eskbanker

born_again said:

It's time that the banks got together and decided on one building in a town that they all shared. Would give everyone who needed branch access and more importantly for the bean counters a nice money saving
Would guess it would stop a lot of people leaving one bank for another as the branches close & the I want to bank in branch group carry on.

These shared branches could perhaps offer additional services too, such as issuing pensions, renewing licences, paying bills, posting parcels, etc - oh, wait....

https://www.postoffice.co.uk/everydaybanking

London7766551

Thrugelmir said:

London7766551 said:

k12479 said:

London7766551 said:

Why I don't doubt some branches are dead now, mine certainly is not. Yet it is being closed.

Then it's because all those people queuing out the door are providing insufficient business to cover the cost of providing them with a branch.

It is a shame they have not even tried to seek interest for charges to cover some of the branch cost. There are many wealthy individuals in the area. I know they bank with HSBC as I have seen some of them have the purple card. Even advanced customers I am sure would pay. I would. £5/10 a month.

Fintech is the way forward, a cashless society. 

I think in the years to come there will be a market for branch banking. It may be in a wave of ethical banking, perhaps some kind of coffee shop banking etc. Lots of people want to move away from the big boys, it remains to be seen if banks like Sterling can actually last. I suspect we will see some of these Fintech banks etc go under (To be clear I do not suggest any Fintech bank such as Sterling are at risk of this) which will cause a movement towards physical bricks and mortar banking again along with other services, albeit in small numbers. There will certainly still be a market for it in the years to come. Everything online is still growing because it has never really gone wrong yet, apart from a few issues here and there. If there was ever a catastrophic failure, it would cause a rethink. 

Thrugelmir

London7766551 said:

Thrugelmir said:

London7766551 said:

k12479 said:

London7766551 said:

Why I don't doubt some branches are dead now, mine certainly is not. Yet it is being closed.

Then it's because all those people queuing out the door are providing insufficient business to cover the cost of providing them with a branch.

It is a shame they have not even tried to seek interest for charges to cover some of the branch cost. There are many wealthy individuals in the area. I know they bank with HSBC as I have seen some of them have the purple card. Even advanced customers I am sure would pay. I would. £5/10 a month.

Fintech is the way forward, a cashless society. 

I think in the years to come there will be a market for branch banking. 

Metro Bank reinvented the branch and rapidly were passed by, by technology. 

London7766551

Thrugelmir said:

London7766551 said:

Thrugelmir said:

London7766551 said:

k12479 said:

London7766551 said:

Why I don't doubt some branches are dead now, mine certainly is not. Yet it is being closed.

Then it's because all those people queuing out the door are providing insufficient business to cover the cost of providing them with a branch.

It is a shame they have not even tried to seek interest for charges to cover some of the branch cost. There are many wealthy individuals in the area. I know they bank with HSBC as I have seen some of them have the purple card. Even advanced customers I am sure would pay. I would. £5/10 a month.

Fintech is the way forward, a cashless society. 

I think in the years to come there will be a market for branch banking. 

Metro Bank reinvented the branch and rapidly were passed by, by technology. 

They kind of just opened branches and tried to be a bit different with an American style. I was a customer at one time. I am not sure how successful they are in terms of profit. They were five or ten years too late. That being said a lot of people in London hold accounts. At least I often see their cards being used.

What I am talking about is something different, for example you would go into your local coffee shop, withdraw or desposite some money, the coffee shop would get a share, the bank would invest in the local community blah blah. Basically a hipster bank.