Banking

Santander says it has fixed a technical problem that saw customers facing delays with certain payments going in and out of their bank accounts for most of today (1 June). The bank says it will reimburse any associated fees or charges incurred as a result. See below for all you need to know.

HSBC has today (1 June) made its temporary Covid-19 opening hours permanent across its UK branch network. The move means a cut to hours at 122 branches based on their pre-Covid levels, with 26 of these outlets seeing opening hours fall by more than 30%. However, 148 branches will get a 30-minute boost to opening times. 

Barclays Bank has announced a further round of branch closures, with 27 more outlets set to shut by the end of August. Below we detail which branches are impacted and alternatives if you still want face-to-face banking. 

New powers will be given to the financial regulator allowing it to fine banks that fail to protect consumers' access to cash. Here's what's happening. 

Lloyds Banking Group has announced a further round of branch closures, with 28 more outlets being shut across the UK between August and November this year. The closures are made up of 20 Lloyds Bank branches and eight Halifax outlets.

U Account holders can no longer access their accounts or use their prepaid cards to spend or withdraw cash as the digital bank closed the service from midday today (Tuesday 3 May). The app-based account is also no longer available to new users. 

Almost 200,000 current accounts were switched during the first three months of the year, up two-fifths on the same period in 2021. In total, eight million current account switches have taken place since the free Current Account Switch Service (CASS) was launched in 2013. 

Santander is to shorten its opening hours on both weekdays and weekends at hundreds of branches across the UK for those who walk-in without a pre-booked appointment. 

An estimated 10 million people would struggle to cope if the UK was to go completely cashless, according to a new report, which comes as bank branch closures escalate and calls grow for the financial regulator to safeguard access to cash.

Around 6,600 people who get tax credits, child benefit or guardian's allowance paid into a Post Office card account need to take action urgently as HMRC will stop making payments into these accounts after 5 April. If you have an alternative account already you must let HMRC know and if not you'll need to set one up.