More than 100 jobs are set to go after Yorkshire Building Society announced 12 branch closures in a shake-up of its branch network.
The society says it is proposing to make the closures next February, in areas which all have other Yorkshire Building Society branches or agencies between one and nine miles.
Directors say the changes are designed to improve value for its members by delivering greater efficiency, and will see branches bring down the shutters in selected locations in the North East, Yorkshire, London, West Midlands, North West and South East.
A total of 152 people employees will be affected, but society bosses say they hope 20% – around 30 people – can be redeployed to other areas of the business.
A spokesperson said: “A total of 152 colleagues have been impacted as a result of the proposed changes announced today. We are hoping to minimise job losses by redeploying about 20% of impacted colleagues to other roles within the Society.
“We are committed to supporting all colleagues impacted by these changes and will be working closely with these colleagues to provide help with identifying further opportunities that may enable them to remain with the Society, or find a new role outside of the business.
“We are actively looking to retain as many colleagues as possible in addition to providing a range of both external and internal support, including access to a Careers Portal, Employee Assistance Helpline and other online resources.”
It is also proposing to discontinue its face-to-face mortgage advice available in branches, which has been declining in popularity for the past five years. Just 5% of the society’s mortgage applications were made in branches at the start of this year, triggering the switch to fully-qualified mortgage advisors by telephone.
Most Read
The society said it believes the proposals would enable customers to access high street services whilst ensuring members’ money is used in a more cost-effective way.
Longer term, it plans to expand its network into new towns and cities where it currently has no presence but where there is customer demand.
Gary Fowler, director of retail Distribution at Yorkshire Building Society Group, said: “We are a strong and financially sustainable mutual which members have trusted with their money for more than 150 years.
“We have evolved in that time from a small local building society into a secure and reliable contemporary provider that exclusively focuses on mortgages and savings, serving more than 3m people across the 海角视频.
Sign up for more business news straight to your inbox
Stay up to date with our daily newsletter, email breaking news alerts and weekly round-ups. To sign up, find out more and see all of our newsletters, follow the link here
“The locations we have chosen have seen falls in transaction and customer levels for a number of years for savings and mortgages. In addition we are seeing lower footfall across branches and declining face-to-face mortgage applications, which now represent just 5% of all our customer mortgage applications.
“Like all businesses, to remain relevant and competitive in today’s market, we must continue to evolve.
Don’t miss
“The proposed changes will enable us to deliver better overall value for members by operating in a more cost-effective way, with the savings we make being reinvested in the business.
“Face-to-face service will continue to play an important part of what we offer. We will still have more outlets than the vast majority of high street financial services providers for a business of our size. In the past few years, we have opened face-to-face services in towns and cities where we previously didn’t have a presence and we’ll continue to look for more opportunities in underserviced towns and cities.”
The list in full of the closures:
Branch Road, Batley, West Yorkshire
Church Walk, Burgess Hill, West Sussex
Cornbow Shopping Centre, Halesowen, West Midlands
Victoria Street, Holmfirth, West Yorkshire
Acre Street, Lindley, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
Bedford Way, North Shields, Tyne & Wear
Market Place, Oldham, Lancashire
Market Street, Penistone, South Yorkshire
Carr Lane, Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire
Barnsley Road, South Elmsall, West Yorkshire
Streatham High Road, Streatham, Greater London
Staines Road West, Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex