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British Spanish lender Banco Santander said on Wednesday there was a risk of redundancy as 750 staff members were targeting 95 branch closures in the UK.
The decision is part of the bank's broad plan to renew its existence from June 2025, bringing Santander UK's network to 349 branches.
“Closing branches has always been a very difficult decision and we spend a lot of time evaluating when and where to do this and how it will minimize the impact it will have on our customers,” said a Santander UK spokesman.
The bank also noted that “a rapid movement of customers choosing to bank digitally” and observed that since 2019, a 63% increase was observed in digital transactions compared to a 61% decrease in transactions made at physical branches.
Santander said he is consulting with the union about the proposed changes. According to the British Corps' annual report, the bank employs approximately 18,000 full-time staff in the UK.
The future of Santander's international footprint has been growing doubt only 20 years after the acquisition of Abbey National brought it to the front of the UK's High Street. Earlier this year, the Financial Times reported that lenders were considering exits from their UK operations.
“The UK is Santander's core market and this has not changed,” a Santander spokesman told CNBC on Wednesday.
October, Reuters reported Santander CEO Hector Grisi predicts that lenders will trim more than 1,400 jobs from UK businesses before lenders complete their cost-saving drive without specifying a timeline.
Lenders have faced several uproars in the UK, securing £295 million ($382.7 million) in November, covering payments that could be linked to a broader industry investigation to the Motor Finance Committee.
In February, Spain's biggest lender reported fourth quarter profits to 326.5 billion euros ($35.6 billion) year-over-year, with plans to repurchase 10 billion euros ($1.089 billion) of shares from revenues for 2025 and 2026 and expected excess capital.
