Harpenden Member of Parliament, Bim Afolami MP, has called on HSBC to re-consider its plans to close one of Harpenden’s last high street banks, following an announcement by the bank that their Harpenden branch is scheduled to close from July 2023. Following the recent departures of Santander, Halifax and other local banks, and with speculation over the future of the town’s Barclays branch following a planning application last year, the closure of HSBC will put increasing pressure on local banking services and leave high street businesses at risk of losing all local high street banking options.
Mr Afolami, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Financial Markets and Services, has been campaigning on access to banking services in Harpenden and has previously called on St. Albans District Council to include a banking hub in the Harpenden Public Halls development to secure high street banking services in Harpenden for generations. Earlier this month, the Harpenden MP published a report which underlined the importance of high street banking branches for local communities and the role that banking can play in levelling up areas.
Bim Afolami MP said,
“Residents in Harpenden will be rightly concerned to hear that another of our high street banking branches has been scheduled for closure. Bank branches provide a vital service that simply cannot be replicated by a shift to mobile banking – particularly when considering the number of residents who use bank branches precisely because they make banking services accessible to those who aren’t as able to bank online.
“Earlier this month, I published a report produced alongside key industry stakeholders in financial services and other Parliamentarians on the role of financial services in our communities. The evidence showed that people want bank branches on their high streets and it also showed the role that bank branches have goes beyond banking.
“I will be redoubling my efforts to secure a high street banking hub in Harpenden which can help us to address the continued decline in local bank branches and protect in-person banking services for residents for a generation. In addition, I have written to the senior leadership at HSBC to ask them to re-consider their plans to close the Harpenden branch.”
