Nationwide promises to keep 600 high street branches open until 2026

Nationwide Building Society has promised to keep more than 600 of high street branches open until 2026 because its “customers value face-to-face contact”.

Britain’s biggest building society said in-person banking still remains popular with its members and so it is acting “in their interests”.

Nationwide has extended its commitment which has been in place since 2019, to not leave any town or city where it is already based until at least 2026.

It means the lender will keep its network of 605 branches open for the next three years with some £46 million being invested to maintain its branch network.

If there are multiple sites in one area the group can still close a branch or if a lease expires it will also close branches.

Since last year, 20 branches have been closed across England and Scotland. Banks are disappearing from the high street as more people have started to use online services to manage their money.

Banks and building societies have closed, or have scheduled to close, a total of 5,695 branches since January 2015, according to Which?.

Barclays, Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, NatWest, RBS, TSB, Virgin Money and Nationwide have announced the closure of about 330 branches between them since the start of the year, according to data from Link, a cash machine company.

But NationWide says there is still demand for in-person banking despite the growth in online options, with people still wanting to visit a branch to access services such as setting up a current account or a bond.

The firm revealed that almost half of openings of its recently launched Fairer Share Bond, which pays 4.75% to savers, were arranged face-to-face. So far this year more than a third of current accounts opened with Nationwide were also done in a branch.

Debbie Crosbie, the building society’s chief executive, said: “Nationwide is different. We give customers a choice about how they do their banking and we support the British high street.

“Because our customers value face-to-face contact, and we’re owned by them, we act in their interests.”

According to the lender’s survey of about 2,000 consumers, around 63% of people say they value their local branch with the top reasons cited being for withdrawing cash, checking balances, opening an account, getting financial advice and discussing financial difficulties.

The news comes after Nationwide announced it will pay £340 million directly into customer accounts for the first time, after its annual profits increased by up to 40%. The payout will benefit 3.4 million eligible customers, who will receive about £100 directly into their accounts in June.

Ms Crosbie added: “We don’t see anyone else doing this, as such, and we think, in the cost of living crisis, it was really important to get people cash where we could, and we think it will have the most impact.”