It has been announced that over 17 different branches of the Nottingham Building society will close, with one of those branches being named as Stapleford’s, causing mixed reactions from the local community and users of the branch.
Following its [the society’s] opening in 1849, branches across the city and England have been established - from Wollaton to Skegness, and Stapleford, there is a lot of branches, and all of those mentioned just a moment ago will all close due to “low useage”. Stapleford’s branch, located on Church street, will close alongside the other 16 branches, causing upset for some users of the branch. The Society’s head of branch network, Kathryn Kitson, said that there was “too many” branches given the “society it is”. She also added the following:
“Since Covid, whilst some members have returned, many have not, leaving a number of our branches with very low levels of transactions and usage.”
“Therefore, we’ve made the hugely difficult decision to close 17 branches in locations where the level of activity in the branch has reached a point where it is no longer sustainable.” The affected branch locations are: Ashbourne; Bourne; Crystal Peaks; Fakenham; Leicester City; March; Matlock; Melton Mowbray; Rothley; Scunthorpe; Skegness; Spalding; Stamford; Stapleford; Thetford; Wigston and Wollaton.”
“We appreciate this is disappointing news for both the members who use one of the affected branches, and our colleagues who work there,” continued Ms Kitson. “However, we have been thorough and considered when making decisions on which branches to close, trying to ensure there are options in place for more vulnerable members and also taking into account the impact on the communities our branches serve.”
“The decision to close branches is never one that is taken lightly so our absolute priority is doing all we can to provide the best possible support for all those impacted by these changes.”
The world is seeing a major transition from in-person financial support, advice and banking, with more and more customers of such branches as the “Nottingham Building Society” switching to using online services, given the speed of which they can get help, the price of travelling for said service is non-existent and it is far easier for the majority of people to use this mode of service. According to http://finder.com the amount of people using online banking/financial services was over 1.9bn people. The website also found (via the link below) that in 2022 an estimated 93% of people in the UK will use some form of online banking, and in 2020 alone 88%+ of all eligible payments were done via contactless payment.
https://www.finder.com/uk/digital-banking-statistics
Every single person alive right now knows nothing but a cash/hybrid cash-card society, but the word “cashless” is being mentioned a lot on local groups, social media pages, and across the world, as not only the UK, but the world, goes through a technological revolution in regard to financial services, to the point where in the future, there could be no cash - but instead, simply tap-on machines for contactless payments in use.