Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that banks maintain a network of local branches.

Decisions on the opening and closing of individual bank branches are taken by the management of each bank on a commercial basis without intervention from Government.

The Government is committed to increasing competition to deliver innovation and good financial products and services for all bank customers, and part of the Government’s long term economic plan is to ensure that banks serve all sections of society.

The Government welcomed the industry-wide Access to Banking protocol announced in March 2015. From the first of May this year, a bank must carry out a number of steps if it is closing a branch. The steps include establishing the impact of a branch closure before it takes place; finding suitable alternative provision; and putting satisfactory alternative measures in place before a branch is closed.