Bank bosses ALL live within 15 minutes of a local branch, investigation reveals – while a fifth of their customers are forced to endure hour-round trips amid widespread closures
- Some customers living in countryside told of journeys taking over three hours
- Read more: Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest are ‘ripping off customers’
Bank bosses will not bear the brunt of their mass store closures – as an investigation reveals they all live within 15 minutes of a local branch.
Last week, it was revealed a fifth of customers now have to make an hour round-trip to visit their nearest bank.
Some living in the countryside told of journeys taking more than three hours – a huge issue for the elderly and vulnerable who cannot use technology in place of an in-person visit.
Now the Mail has found not one chief executive or chairman of the eight banks that have closed the most branches will face a lengthy trip.
Of the 11 with addresses in this country, six lived within ten minutes of their branch by car, with three just five minutes away.
Santander chairman William Vereker, 62, is listed at a £17million mansion which is seven minutes from a central London branch
By the end of this year HSBC, NatWest, Nationwide, Barclays, Virgin Money, TSB, Santander and Lloyds will have shut down 2,277 outlets since 2019.
The worst offender is Barclays with 614 branches either closed down or set for closure over that period, according to Which?.
But its chairman, Nigel Higgins, 62, has a Victorian mews valued at £3million just three minutes from the nearest store in central London.
Nationwide chairman Kevin Parry, 61, also has a townhouse in one of the most sought-after spots in central London just five minutes from his nearest branch.
But even when outside of the capital at his £2million Cotswolds country pile, he is only 25 minutes from a rural branch.
Neither of these are among the 72 stores that will have been closed by December.
Britain’s first major female bank boss, NatWest’s Dame Alison Rose-Slade lives just five minutes (1.4miles) from her nearest branch in north London. This outlet is not one of the 126 NatWest has planned to close.
Neither is one of their west London branches, which conveniently sits just five minutes from the £2.3million Victorian flat of their chairman, Sir Howard Davies.
Nearby, Santander chairman William Vereker, 62, is listed at a £17million mansion which is seven minutes from a central London branch. This is not among 310 the bank has slated for closure.
Nationwide said it ‘will not leave a town or city where we are currently based until at least 2024’.
Barclays said it is adding face-to-face support and NatWest said it was investing in customer support. Santander did not comment.
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