A Bethnal Green branch is among a raft of closures announced by banking giant HSBC.

The Bethnal Green Road site will close on August 15 and is one of 114 branches across the country that are to be axed.

The bank said it has seen a substantial decline in customers coming into its branches over the last five years, but especially since the Covid pandemic.

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HSBC stressed that it hopes to redeploy all its employees at affected locations to other roles within HSBC, either to other branches or to a different position.

It plans to speak to all staff in those due to close.

Jackie Uhi, HSBC UK’s managing director of UK distribution, said: “Banking remotely is becoming the norm for the vast majority of us.

“In addition to our branch network, customers can access services through the Post Office network, our community pop-ups and soon-to-come banking hubs, alongside live chat, social media and through telephone banking.

“The decision to close a branch is never easy or taken lightly, especially if we are the last branch in an area.

"We’ve invested heavily in our ‘post closure’ strategy, including providing free tablet devices to selected branch customers who do not already have a device to bank digitally, alongside one-to-one coaching to help them migrate to digital banking.”

Reporting by PA.

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