Mass Scottish bank closures unacceptable. Time for "innovative solutions" like shared banking hubs

Following yesterdays Scottish Parliament bank closure debate, the national charity for older people have called on banks to introduce shared banking hubs to alleviate the impact of closures.

Age Scotland, who contributed to the Scottish Parliament’s inquiry into bank closures has long suggested this innovative solution which is gaining traction with politicians and was noted in the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee’s report.

Brian Sloan, Age Scotland’s Chief Executive said:

“Older people have been telling us how bank closures are affecting them and we’ve made the case to the Scottish Parliament. I’m delighted that our contribution has been recognised in the Committee’s final report, including our suggestion that the provision of shared banking hubs should be further explored by the banks.

“Physical branches are important to older people. They prefer having a face-to-face conversation about their finances with a real person. As older people are more likely to be targeted for scams, they’re less likely to go online or use the phone for banking and they shouldn’t be discriminated for this choice. Indeed, 67% of people over 75 don’t use the internet at all.

“It’s important for banks to look for innovative solutions to bank closures. Our recommendation of shared banking hubs for smaller communities, suburbs and rural areas is gathering support from older people and politicians.”

“Banks are at risk of alienating a fifth of Scotland’s over 65 population, which is only going to increase as the population ages. Banks need to future-proof their facilities – ensuring there’s dementia and age-friendly banking support for their customers. This includes designing brick and mortar and mobile branches for all customers that are open for a sufficient amount of time at each location to support people with limited mobility and conditions.

“We’ve heard of mobile branches that have only been available for 15 minutes each week for rural areas, which is unacceptable and ostracises older people with additional support needs or troubles with public transport.”