Bank to close Grantham branch

THE Grantham and Lincoln branches of Virgin Money are among a  list of 31 branches shutting down nationally at loss of 112 jobs

Virgin Money said it intends to find alternative roles for staff wherever possible but admitted that some will be at risk of redundancy fuelling more fears of widespread job cuts as the Covid retention scheme ends

Bosses said the decision – which follows around 700 redundancies at the bank last year – is down to customers switching to online banking during the pandemic.

The company said the number of customers using bank branches for day-to-day transactions has been on a downward trajectory across the UK banking industry for a number of years and that this has been further accelerated by the Covid crisis.

Virgin Money said it intends to find alternative roles for staff wherever possible but that some will be at risk of redundancy.

The proposed closures come as the Virgin Group is completing the process of rebranding the former Clydesdale branches with new signs alongside the mobile banking app.

The Grantham branch, on High Street, was rebranded from Yorkshire Bank earlier in the year.

The Virgin Group reported pre-tax profits of £72million for the six months to March 31, 2021 as interim pre-tax profits more than doubled to £245million from £120million a year ago.

The last annual profits before tax reported to September 30, 2020 totalled £127.7million.