TSB Bank has announced that it will cut around 900 jobs as part of plans to close 164 of its high street bank branches.

The Edinburgh-based bank said it expects most of the redundancies to be voluntary but did not rule out forcing staff out.

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TSB, which is part of Spain’s Sabadell SABE.MC, added that its branch network would be the seventh biggest in the UK after the closures reduce it by a third.

The company has previously said it intended to reduce the size of its branch network but has now accelerated plans amid the pandemic.

It will leave the bank with 290 branches, more than halving its store estate over the past seven years.

Chief executive: “Never an easy decision”

The announcement comes after a study by consumer group Which? in July found banks and building societies had closed, or scheduled the closure, of 3,588 branches since January 2015, at a rate of about 55 each month.

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TSB chief executive Debbie Crosbie said: ‘Closing any of our branches is never an easy decision but our customers are banking differently – with a marked shift to digital banking.

‘We are reshaping our business to transform the customer experience and set us up for the future.

‘This means having the right balance between branches on the high street and our digital platforms, enabling us to offer the very best experience for our personal and business customers across the UK.

Employee union:  “A dark day for the finance sector”.

“We remain committed to our branch network and will retain one of the largest in the UK.”

Employee unions Unite and TBU strongly criticised the cuts, with Unite calling it a “dark day for the finance sector”.

TBU General Secretary Mike Brown said: “To throw hardworking staff on the scrap heap in the middle of a pandemic and against the backdrop of the worst financial crisis in a generation is nothing short of scandalous.”