Welshpool in Powys is the latest town to benefit from a new shared banking hub, thanks to a commitment from the banking industry to protect access to cash.
LINK, the UK’s cash access and ATM network, is assessing the effect of bank branch closures on communities and identifying where new shared facilities such as ATMs, cashback or banking hubs are needed.
Following recent branch closures, it has recommended that Welshpool, alongside Looe in Cornwall, have met the criteria for a banking hub. The opening of these hubs will now be carried out by a bank-owned delivery body, The Banking Hub Company.
The new banking hubs join two locations already operating in Cambuslang (South Lanarkshire) and Rochford (Essex) and eight already announced for Acton (West London), Brixham (Devon), Buckingham (Buckinghamshire), Carnoustie (Angus), Cottingham (Yorkshire and the Humber, near Hull), Knaresborough (North Yorks) and Syston (Leicestershire) and Troon (Ayrshire)
Banking hubs provide basic banking services including counter services run by the major banks and the Post Office, and dedicated rooms where customers could see community bankers from their own bank.
John Howells, chief executive of LINK: “While the way people are banking and paying for things is changing, we also know that there are millions of consumers who are still dependent on cash, so LINK’s work is vital to ensure that free access to cash is maintained where it is needed by consumers.”
