Customer accounts at the bank will be transferred to Fulham Broadway


The HSBC branch on the Upper Richmon Road. Picture: Positively Putney

December 1, 2022

HSBC has announced that it is to close its Putney branch next year as part of a massive cull of its sites.

The official closure date for the branch at 172 Upper Richmond Road is 1 August 2023 and customers with accounts there will have them move to Fulham Broadway which is 1.8 miles away. Sort codes and account numbers will not change.

HSBC also has an arrangement with the Post Office which allows cheques and cash to be paid in, cash to be withdrawn and balances to be checked. The nearest Post Office is just down the road at 197 Upper Richmond Road.

In a report justifying the closure, HSBC said that only 21% of customers in Putney rely on branch-only banking exclusively. It claims that only 71 personal customers and 92 business customers have used the branch in 10 of the last 12 months.

The bank says it has identified 10% of customers at the Putney branch as being vulnerable and not using alternative banking channels and they will be given additional support up to the closure.

There are relatively few branch closures in London in this current round of cuts by HSBC which will take effect beginning in April next year. The programme is expected to result in around 100 job losses.

In all 114 will ultimately be shut, representing over a quarter of its remaining network.

Jackie Uhi, HSBC UK's managing director of UK distribution, said, "People are changing the way they bank and footfall in many branches is at an all-time low, with no signs of it returning.

"Banking remotely is becoming the norm for the vast majority of us.

"The decision to close a branch is never easy or taken lightly, especially if we are the last branch in an area, so we've invested heavily in our 'post-closure' strategy, including providing free tablet devices to selected branch customers who do not already have a device to bank digitally, alongside one-to-one coaching to help them migrate to digital banking."

The announcement of the closures has led to protests from the Unite union about the impact on customers and staff. The union’s national officer Dominic Hook said that the axing of branches would "abandon the most vulnerable in our society and leave them without a neighbourhood bank served by experienced knowledgeable staff.

"This hugely profitable financial institution is walking away from the customers and communities who most need access to local banking services."