A number of Santander branches are to close across Scotland after the Spanish-owned banking giant announced it is shutting 95 branches on the high street.
The closure of the branches from June will put about 750 jobs at risk across the UK – more than 4% of its 18,000 workforce.
The majority of the planned redundancies are related to the branch closures, but about 12% of the cuts are because of the reduced-hour proposals, with hours being cut across 36 sites and 18 switching to be counter-free in moves impacting on more than a third of its 444-strong network.
From June 30, the majority of the reduced-hours branches will be open just three days a week – either Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9.30am to 3pm, or Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9.30am to 3pm and Saturdays from 9.30am to 12.30pm.
It comes in response to customers increasingly switching to online banking, with a 63% surge in digital transactions since 2019 while branch transactions have slumped by 61% in that time, according to the firm.
Ten branches in Scotland are among the closures, including two in the Greater Glasgow area.
Scottish Santander branches set to close and when
- Arbroath – June 17, 2025
- Cumbernauld – Jul7 7, 2025
- Glasgow Newton Mearns – June 23, 2025
- Glasgow St Vincents Street – June 14, 2025
- Hawick – July 24, 2025
- Musselburgh – June 30, 2025
- Peterhead – June 16, 2025
- Saltcoats – July 21, 2025
- Turriff – NA
- Wishaw – July 22, 2025
The closures will leave Santander with 349 branches, down from 444.
Jenny Ross, money editor at consumer group Which?, warned Santander’s branch closures will “come as a real blow to many customers”.
She said: “Schemes introduced by the banking industry to protect these services, such as banking hubs, are a good start in plugging gaps left by closing physical branches, but they must be rolled out much more quickly if consumers are to feel their benefits.
“The government must hold banks’ feet to the fire to ensure the commitments they’ve made to set up 350 hubs by 2029 are met – and should be prepared to review the target upwards if necessary.”
A Santander UK spokesman said: “As customer behaviour changes, we are ensuring that our branches remain fit for the future.
“Our new combination of full-service branches, alongside work cafes, counter-free branches and reduced hours branches, aims to provide the right balance between digital banking and face-to-face money management and guidance.”
He added: “Closing a branch is always a very difficult decision and we spend a great deal of time assessing where and when we do this and how to minimise the impact it may have on our customers.”
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