Appointment-only late afternoon banking at Santander

Santander is cutting the opening hours of its branches and only allowing pre-booked face-to-face appointments in the late afternoon.

From 18 July, branches will shut for general inquiries at 15:00 instead of the current closing time of 16:30. Hundreds will also only have half-day opening on a Saturday.

The bank said customers who "required support" could book an afternoon slot.

It said that the move was a response to fewer people using the branch network.

A host of High Street banks have closed branches in recent years, to cut costs as customers have moved on to mobile and online banking.

More than 4,000 branches have closed since the start of 2015, and hundreds more are scheduled to close.

Santander said that its reduced opening hours would ensure that none of its 450 branches would close.

Apart from a handful of shopping centre-based branches, the new weekday opening hours across the network will be 09:30 to 15:00.

Staff will be in branches for pre-booked face-to-face appointments between 15:00 and 17:00 if customers need support that cannot be provided online, on the phone, or earlier in the day.

Nearly 90% of branches would be open from 09:30 to 12:30 on a Saturday.

Branch staff would be trained to deal with customers on the phone alongside their face-to-face roles, the bank said.

Richard Owen, head of branches at Santander, said: "These changes will enable us to maintain our existing branch network while providing significant additional capacity to help customers who want to talk to us by phone.

"We want to make sure we have the right mix of channels to help our customers however they choose to bank with us."

He said the number of customers using its branches had fallen by 33% over the two years before the coronavirus pandemic, and a further 50% in 2020, and 12% in 2021.

Customers who visited branches regularly would be notified of the changes by post, the bank said.

Jenny Ross, money editor at the consumer association Which?, said: "Santander deserves credit for taking greater account of customer needs than some of its rivals that have slashed their branch networks without putting in place reasonable alternatives. But this continues a concerning overall trend of banks chipping away at face-to-face services and opening hours.

"While proposals from individual banks and the industry to protect cash are welcome, a piecemeal approach is unlikely to be enough to safeguard access to cash for the millions of people who rely on it."