Santander opening times: North East bank branches among those reducing Saturday opening hours
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Santander branches up and down the country will move from being open from 9.30am to 4pm on Saturdays to operating a half-day service, instead closing at 12.30pm.
The new half-day service is part of a wider shake-up of changes to opening hours being introduced by the bank from July 18.
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Hide AdSantander is cutting its branch opening hours in what it says is a response to ‘long-term trends in customer behaviour’ which includes operating from 9.30am to 3pm on weekdays, instead of until 4.30pm.
The bank said the number of customers using its branches fell by a third (33%) over the two years before the coronavirus pandemic, and a further 50% in 2020 and 12% in 2021.
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 have seen a continuing reduction in branch usage over several years, both before and since the peak of the pandemic, with many customers preferring to transact digitally or contact us by phone.
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Hide Ad“We want to make sure we have the right mix of channels to help our customers however they choose to bank with us.”
Take a look at the branches across the North East region that will now close at 12.30pm on a Saturday:
Blyth
Darlington
Durham
Gateshead Metrocentre
Hartlepool
Middlesbrough
Morpeth
Newcastle
Stockton
Sunderland
Washington