Five Sussex branches of HSBC to close as more people bank online - this is when

Branches in Bexhill, Hove, Lewes, Bognor, Seaford will all close as part of a 114 branch closure programme with around 100 members of staff expected to lose their jobs nationally. HSBC said it would invest in updating its remaining 327 branches.

Bexhill will close in April, Hove in May, Lewes in June and the Bognor Regis and Seaford branches will close in July.

The decline in customers using branches has accelerated so much since the Covid pandemic that some of those closing are serving fewer than 250 people a week, HSBC said. On the other hand, usage of its mobile app has almost tripled since 2017, with the vast majority of transactions completed digitally.

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.”