5. What assessment has the First Minister made of bank closures in north Wales? OAQ(5)0413(FM)

I was concerned to hear of the further proposed bank closures; they’re happening across Wales. What is absolutely crucial is that people, where they lose their bank branches, are able to access banking services through the post offices.

Thank you, First Minister. Just last week, HSBC announced its intention to close its branch in Holywell, hot on the heels of NatWest taking the same decision to shut its doors in the same town, the consequence of which is going to hit the high street hard. I was joined by members of the community and my parliamentary colleague last Friday to take a stand against this latest closure, and the hurt and the anger of local people was clearly palpable. They really feel enough is enough for the area. Indeed, when HSBC closed its bank in Flint last year, they advised customers they could relocate to use the Holywell branch, and they also shut their NatWest branch in Flint last year, leaving many, mostly the elderly, out on a limb. Whilst the banks make clear that it’s possible to use the local post office, this is obviously not applicable to business customers, and also the future of Holywell post office is far from certain at present.

First Minister, while I recognise that any legislation to protect our local bank branches would need to be done at a UK level, what is and can the Welsh Government do to enable people and businesses in my constituency and across Wales to continue to access face-to-face banking and support our high streets that will potentially suffer on the back of these closures?

We have, of course, over the years supported our post offices financially, and they are hugely important in local communities. It is right to say that, whilst personal banking services can be provided by post offices, the reality is that most business customers don’t get that kind of service, and that’s what the Post Office needs to deliver, working with the banks. When businesses cash up at the end of the day, where do they take their money? That’s one of the issues. We look then at having night safes in post offices—that’s the logical development. It helps the footfall of a post office as well. The difficulty with banking now is that footfall has dropped significantly in the branches, but there are people who need those services, and we must find a way of working with the Post Office to make sure that those services are available to those people who need them. We’ve made representations over the years to the Post Office, and indeed to the banks—I’ve done it personally—to make sure that, where banks decide they no longer want to be in a community, the post office is able to take over the service that they offer, and, of course, to look at ways in which credit unions can provide financial services as well, to fill the gaps that the commercial banks are leaving.

I’ve also raised concerns in this Chamber with the First Minister on a series of announcements in my constituency. There have been further announcements recently on financial institutions, not only banks, closing: HSBC in Holyhead, and the Yorkshire Building Society in Llangefni. They are the latest two. The outcome of this, of course, is that there is a centralisation of services in regional hubs. We’re seeing a pattern of that emerging at the moment and that does deprive people of services as other Members have said.

Does the First Minister agree that the Welsh Government needs to put pressure on the UK Government to ensure that banks, if not as individual companies but as a wider sector, ensure that there are financial services that are accessible to all communities in Wales?

That’s a fair point, and it’s all important. If the banks can’t do it, then, in my view, they are duty-bound to ensure that there are alternative ways of delivering the financial services via the Post Office, and also, of course, as a Government we’ve been supporting the credit unions to ensure that they can fill the gap that the commercial banks are leaving, as I said earlier. By so doing, I think it will be possible to ensure that people receive the service that they should receive.

As HSBC told me when I met them last year to discuss the closures in Flintshire, as NatWest replied to me as I opposed and wrote to them regarding their closure in Holywell, and as the Yorkshire Building Society is now saying, the reason for this is the switch from bank-based service usage to digital usage. Of course, that—as has been now said about HSBC in Holywell, Holyhead and Llanrwst—leaves older people, those without transport, those without internet access, shopkeepers, and small businesses losing out.

In that context, what dialogue and what submission did your Government make to Professor Griggs’s independent review into how banks have implemented the banking protocol to minimise the impact of bank closures, and any dialogue with the Post Office regarding their newly announced partnership to secure access to local banking services?

Well, we welcome the recommendations for better engagement and communication between the banks and customers, but it is important the UK Government, as the lead organisation here, to make sure that what the review actually suggested is taken forward, namely that the banks improve the way they engage with those communities facing branch closures, including working with small business customers to see how they can further mitigate the challenge of cash deposits and collection that closures bring to some of them. So, whilst we welcome the recommendations, we do need to see action now on the part of the UK Government.