Warning issued to bank customers who use any of UK's 350 banking hubs

Banking hubs are "inadequate" and failing account holders and customers up and down the country, it has been warned. Since January 2015, banks and building societies have shuttered 6,128 branches, according to consumer group Which?.

Banking hubs offer a solution by allowing staff from multiple banks to share the same space, filling the gaps that branch closures left. Following a meeting with city minister Tulip Siddiq last week, Britain's banks have agreed to establish 350 more hubs over the next five years.

Under the deal reached between the Treasury and banks, approximately 230 hubs will be opened by the end of 2025. But Ron Delnevo, chair of the Payment Choice Alliance, told GB News: "The number of 350 by 2029, seemingly agreed with Tulip Siddiq, is wholly inadequate. The CEO of Cash Access UK had already agreed to have 200 open by the end of 2025. 350 by 2029 is actually a drastic slowing down of the opening programme."

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Delveno continued: "In short, what has so far been promised is wholly inadequate. The fact that bank hubs are not required to have a 24/7 ATM is ludicrous. Without such an ATM they are not providing an adequate cash service in any community. This also highlights another flaw in the bank hub concept - the FCA has not forced the big five UK banks to agree any kind of detailed specification of such hubs."

"This lack of standardisation allows banks to "dither even about whether the hubs should have printers, let alone ATMs," Delnevo added. Delnevo concluded: "There are obvious flaws in this deal with the banks." Cat Farrow, customer and strategy director at Cash Access UK, said of the commitment to 350 additional banking hubs: "We're delighted to see this commitment to bringing more Banking Hubs to communities across the UK.

"Access to cash and face-to-face banking services remain vital for millions of people in the UK, and these hubs play an important role in protecting these services. To date, we have opened 76 banking hubs across the UK and aim to open the hundredth by the end of this year."