Job losses as CYBG to close bank branches

Clydesdale and Yorkshire banking group (CYBG) has said it will close 39 branches of its Yorkshire Bank this year as well as 40 Clydesdale branches, leading to a loss of 400 jobs.

The closures amount to around a fifth of the 182 branches of the Yorkshire Bank, which was founded in 1859 in Halifax, West Yorkshire.

FTSE 250 business CYBG, which National Australia Bank formed last year ahead of its float in London, said the branch closures were part of its strategy to create “a truly integrated digital, mobile, telephone and branch service for its customers”.

CYBG said since 2011, the number of customers using their bank for day-to-day transactions in the UK has fallen by a third. The group said it was investing £350m over the next two years into digital innovation to ease the transformation from physical branches to more remote customer service.

The group said its first priority would be to work “with impacted customers, local communities and relevant stakeholders”.

Gavin Opperman, customer banking director at Yorkshire Bank, said: “The changes announced today continue our journey towards a model that combines an enhanced digital platform with a right sized branch network; allowing customers to interact with us through a wide range of channels – mobile, online, telephone, in-branch – whenever and however they want.”