Virgin Money has unveiled plans to shut down 31 branches across Scotland and north of England as customers shift to digital banking.

The lender noted that the branch closure, which will take place in early 2022, will result in around 112 job redundancies.

The lender stated that the number of customers using physical bank branches has been decreasing due to the shift to online and mobile-based banking. It was further accelerated by the pandemic.

Virgin Money group customer experience director Fergus Murphy said: “As our customers change the way they want to bank with us and conduct fewer transactions in-store, we must continue to evolve the role of our stores into places where we showcase our products and bring our digital services to life.”

The lender said customers can use Post Offices for day‐to-day banking, including cash deposits and withdrawals, cheque deposits and balance enquiries.

Following the closure, Virgin Money will be left with a network of 131 branches across the UK.

In February 2020, Virgin Money announced that it was closing 52 branches and cutting 500 jobs as part of its restructuring.

The lender had 245 branches when it merged with Clydesdale and Yorkshire banking group (CYBG) in 2018.

Since the start of the pandemic, multiple lenders such as HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, TSB Bank and Co-operative Bank have shuttered their branches.

In January this year, HSBC closed 82 UK branches, reducing its branch network from 593 to 511.

In September 2020, TSB Bank decided to shutter 164 branches and slash 900 jobs.

Prior to that, Co-op Bank cut 350 jobs, shuttering 18 branches.