Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq will open the 100th banking hub in Darwen, which is located in Lancashire, today. A hub was recommended at Darwen following a community request after bank branch closures in the town.
Like other hubs across the country, the Darwen hub will offer a counter service operated by the Post Office, where customers of all major banks can carry out regular cash transactions from from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday.
It also offers a ‘community banker’ service, where customers can talk to their own bank about more complicated issues on the day their bank is in the hub.
HM Treasury described the opening of the 100th banking hub as a “significant landmark”.
Banking hubs and deposit services are delivered by Cash Access UK and come about following the closure of any bank branch across the country.
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This assessment is conducted by Link, the UK’s cash access and ATM network, which independently reviews a community to understand whether the closure will affect access to cash for locals. A community can also ask Link to carry out an assessment of the community if they feel they need better access to cash.
Gareth Oakley, CEO of Cash Access UK, said: “Thanks to the exceptional industry collaboration from the banks who support us, I’m delighted that, in… such [a] short space of time, we have been able to successfully open 100 banking hubs, as well as deliver 100 deposit services.
“It’s been a particularly busy year; this week alone, we have officially opened five hubs. Our hubs are proving extremely popular, which shows that access to cash and banking services remains vital for millions of individuals across the UK, despite more people choosing to bank and make payments digitally. We’re delighted to have reached this latest milestone and will continue our work to bring more of these services to the communities that need them most.”
Alongside today’s 100th hub opening, Cash Access UK also confirmed that 100 deposit services will be live by the end of the year. Deposit services allow small businesses to readily deposit and access cash either through deposit ATMs, where customers from different banks can readily bank notes, or enhanced Post Offices, where there is a separate counter for banking customers.
Sam Richardson, deputy editor of Which? Money, said: “Thousands of branches have closed their doors in recent years, often leaving those reliant on their services in the lurch or having to travel long distances to access them.
“Banking hubs are likely to be the future of banking, replacing shuttered branches, and while it’s encouraging to see this milestone passed, their roll-out remains too slow for consumers to feel their benefit.
“It’s vital that the Government holds its commitment to opening 350 hubs in the next few years – and it should be prepared to revise that figure upwards if necessary.”
