Lloyds, Halifax, Santander and NatWest closing 61 UK branches in 2026

Extra financial institution branches will near clients throughout UK excessive streets this yr.

sign and logo above the entrance of a lloyds band on briggate in leeds city centre

Lloyds, Halifax, Financial institution of Scotland, Santander and NatWest are all closing branches in 2026 (Picture: Getty)

Prospects of Lloyds, Halifax, Santander and NatWest face dropping extra financial institution branches from UK excessive streets this yr as 61 places are earmarked for closure.

Lloyds Banking Group, which includes Lloyds, Halifax and Financial institution of Scotland, accounts for 37 of those impending closures, with the numerous discount in its department community coming in response to the rising demand for digital banking. A complete of 218 branches have been closed by the group in 2025 following a reported 55% drop in in-person transactions over the previous 5 years, together with 142 Lloyds branches, 118 Halifax branches and 43 Financial institution of Scotland branches.

The closures are a part of the group’s plan to chop prices and digitise companies as extra clients make the transfer to digital apps to handle their cash, marking a major shift from in-person banking in direction of cellular and on-line companies.

Equally, Santander can be considerably decreasing its department community with 18 closures presently deliberate for 20206. These come after the financial institution closed 95 of its branches in 2025 and minimize companies at others.

In response to altering banking habits, Santander has additionally lowered its opening hours at 36 of its websites, whereas 18 have been made ‘counter free’ to create “extra space and time” for department groups to assist clients.

Elsewhere, NatWest has confirmed seven extra of its financial institution branches are on account of shut as demand for cellular and on-line companies will increase. The foremost financial institution closed 49 of its places throughout the UK in 2025 and extra will comply with this yr as in-person banking continues to say no.

NatWest mentioned clients will probably be given 12 weeks discover of a department closure announcement and will probably be suggested of the precise cut-off date by means of a poster displayed in department, or by way of a closure information out there in department or on-line.

The closures in 2026 come after 432 branches shut their doorways for good throughout the UK final yr as extra companies turn out to be digitised. Based on evaluation from Which?, these included 105 from NatWest, 101 from Halifax, 95 from Santander, 93 from Lloyds, 24 from the Financial institution of Scotland, eight from TSB and 6 from Barclays.

However there’s some excellent news for purchasers of Nationwide and HSBC, with neither model closing any branches this yr. Nationwide has made a pledge to maintain all 605 of its branches open on UK excessive streets till no less than the beginning of 2030, giving clients the liberty to decide on how one can financial institution, whether or not that’s in department, within the app, or over the telephone.

In the meantime, HSBC has reaffirmed its dedication to clients by extending its department promise this yr, guaranteeing that every one 327 branches will stay open till no less than 2027.

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As for the financial institution branches on account of shut this yr, listed are all the confirmed Lloyds, Halifax, Financial institution of Scotland, Santander and NatWest closures to return in 2026 to this point: