New Milton, Hythe and Christchurch HSBC branches to shut as bank moves to axe 114 branches from April 2023

BANKING giant HSBC has announced its New Milton, Hythe and Christchurch branches will close next year.

They were named among 114 outlets to shut across the UK from next April in the face of declining footfall.

The branch at New Milton is earmarked for closure on 27th June and the one in Christchurch on 25th July. There is currently no date for the Hythe site.

The bank said it is investing tens of millions of pounds in updating and improving its remaining branch network, which will total 327 after the new wave of closures.

The decline in customers using branches has accelerated so much since the Covid pandemic that some of those closing are serving fewer than 250 people a week, HSBC said.

On the other hand, usage of its mobile app has almost tripled since 2017, with the vast majority of transactions completed digitally.

Jackie Uhi, HSBC UK’s managing director of UK distribution, said: “People are changing the way they bank and footfall in many branches is at an all-time low, with no signs of it returning. Banking remotely is becoming the norm for the vast majority of us.

“The decision to close a branch is never easy or taken lightly, especially if we are the last branch in an area, so we’ve invested heavily in our ‘post-closure’ strategy, including providing free tablet devices to selected branch customers who do not already have a device to bank digitally, alongside one-to-one coaching to help them migrate to digital banking.”