Lloyds stops opening bank accounts for customers at branches...

[dutchman]

Campaigners warn high streets ‘are being hollowed out’ as lender drives customers to app


Charlie Nunn, the chief executive of Lloyds Bank, said 97pc of the lender’s interactions with customers were digital

Britain’s biggest bank is to stop opening accounts for customers at its branches and instead force them to go online.

Lloyds Bank’s staff will no longer open joint, premium or student accounts in branches or switch customers from another lender – a move that critics warned signalled “the death of branch banking”.

Instead, staff will direct customers to use its app and website, according to internal documents seen by The Telegraph.

It comes as the bank shuts more than 100 branches across the country, adding to the 1,470 sites it has already closed over the past decade. Last week, Lloyds scrapped the option for customers to deposit cheques at the Post Office despite the closures.

Martin Quinn, of the group Campaign for Cash, said: “In-person bank branch services are vital for consumers. People do not want to talk to a machine, they want to deal with real people.

“High streets up and down the country are being hollowed out by shop closures and removing more face to face banking services is a real kick in the teeth.”

According to guidance issued to Lloyds’ staff, branch workers will no longer complete a wide range of services for people.

While current accounts will still be opened, services such as opening premium Club accounts will “no longer be offered in branch”, according to the document seen by The Telegraph.

Customers will also no longer be able to make bankruptcy and overdraft appeals in branches and staff will stop opening executor accounts, which are temporary bank accounts used by those managing the financial affairs of someone who has recently died.

Staff will instead help customers navigate the bank’s app and website if needed.

Lloyds Banking Group, which also owns Halifax and Bank of Scotland, has 28 million customers. Almost five million do not use its digital services.

The changes will raise concerns about vulnerable and older customers being shut out of accessing vital services.

The overhaul is understood to affect basic accounts, which are intended for those in financial difficulty.

Vulnerable customers will also be told to access affected services via phone or online in the first instance. A source close to the bank insisted staff would be able to use their judgement in individual cases.

Lloyds’s overhaul will also stoke fears about the disappearance of bank branches and the decline of cash.

Mark Brown, the general secretary of Affinity, a union for Lloyds staff that the bank does not officially recognise, said: “By stopping new and existing customers from accessing everyday banking products and services and forcing them down the digital channel, Lloyds is signalling the death of branch banking. What’s the point of bank branches?”

Catherine West MP, who sits on the Treasury Select Committee, said: “It’s all very well banking on your phone but sometimes you need to talk to a real person. I know I do. Bank branches offer a local connection, a sense of continuity and peace of mind.”

The changes have come to light less than a week before a senior Lloyds executive faces the Treasury committee. Jasjyot Singh, Lloyds’s head of consumer relationships, is expected to appear before MPs next Wednesday to face questions about financial inclusion.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/02/26/lloyds-stops-opening-accounts-for-customers-at-branches/