News

Rise in digital banking takes heavy toll on HSBC branch traffic

February 1, 2017

HSBC will trim 62 branches from its U.K. network in 2017, leaving the FI with 625 locations by year-end, down from 1,430 in 2008.

The branch closures reflect the reality that HSBC customers now conduct 90 percent of their banking business through digital channels, according to a report by Sky News.

Digital traffic has increased 80 percent in just the past year, while branch traffic has declined 40 percent in the past five years, Sky reported.

Within the past two years, U.K. banks have shuttered 1,000 branches, with HSBC accounting for nearly one-third of these, according to the U.K. watchdog group Which.

A bank executive told Sky that this year's reductions will "draw a line" under branch closings for HSBC.