By Elena Vardon
The U.K. arm of Spanish lender Santander is set to close 95 of its 444 branches, putting 750 jobs at risk, as customers increasingly favor digital banking.
Of the remaining 349 branches in Santander UK's network, 290 will offer full services while the others will operate on reduced hours or be counter-free from June, the lender said Wednesday.
"The bank has seen a rapid movement of customers choosing to do their banking digitally, with a 63% increase in digital transactions since 2019, while financial transactions completed in branches reduced by 61% in the same period," it said.
Santander UK has around 18,000 full-time equivalent employees and 14 million active U.K. customers, according to its latest annual report.
Write to Elena Vardon at elena.vardon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 19, 2025 04:25 ET (08:25 GMT)
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