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Banking group Virgin Money is to close 31 branches and cut more than 100 jobs as the move to digital services continues in the financial sector.

The closures will amount to around a fifth of the group’s branch estate and come as the group, which also has the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank brands, switches entirely to the Virgin Money brand.

Virgin Money - which has major bases in Glasgow, Newcastle and Leeds - said the closures come after it saw “greater appetite for digital self-service, with customers increasingly adopting digital channels”.

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They would also allow it to make savings as it increased more automation to its processes, and said that money would be re-invested into the business.

One of the stores closing is a colleague-only branch in its Newcastle office. It said that 28 of the 30 customer stores closing are located less than a third of a mile away from the nearest Post Office. Of the other two stores, one is 0.7 miles away from a Post Office and the other is 2.7 miles from the nearest alternative Virgin Money store.

Closures will begin early next year. Virgin Money said it hoped to redeploy staff affected but some were at risk of redundancy and it expected a reduction of around 112 full time equivalent roles.

Fergus Murphy, group customer experience director at Virgin Money said: “As our customers change the way they want to bank with us and conduct fewer transactions in-store, we must continue to evolve the role of our stores into places where we showcase our products and bring our digital services to life.”