A local Assembly Member has called on senior managers at Natwest bank to halt its Llanidloes branch closure plan, as claims are made that the bank is ‘unready’ to transfer key banking services to the Post Office.
Montgomeryshire Assembly Member, Russell George, has made the claims following concerns that replacement banking services will not only be insufficient but also that they will not be ready to meet customer demands by the planned closure date of 29 August.
The AM has said he has been made aware by local business owners in the town that business banking services that are due to be transferred to the Post Office are still not in place and are uncertain to be by the branch closure deadline but also that the mobile branch van scheduled for a weekly Monday service, will not be rearranged for Bank Holidays, which will create a two week gap at key points during the year.
Mr George has, along with local MP, Glyn Davies, campaigned vigorously against Natwest Bank’s branch closure proposals in both Llanidloes and Llanfair Caereinion. The AM and MP set up a petition back in May urging local residents and businesses to sign up and demonstrate their discontent at the closure plans in a bid to get them reversed. The petition gained over 1000 signatures and was lodged with the bank’s senior management team in July.
Commenting, Mr George said:
“It seems from speaking to local businesses on the ground that there is considerable level of uncertainty regarding whether key over the counter services that the bank said would be protected for local customers, will be transferred to the Post Office in time for the 29 August.
“On top of that I am also very concerned that there will not be a rescheduling of the mobile banking service on public Bank Holidays.
“These are key points in the calendar year like Christmas and Easter, when people need to catch up with their banking business, so being prevented from doing so for a fortnight is completely unacceptable.
“I have been trying to get a lot of important information from the bank over recent weeks about these key issues but there remains a great deal of ambiguity.
“If the transfer of service provision is not going to be done in a seamless and co-ordinated way – as they promised it would – then it has to be stopped and users of the bank need to be properly informed, otherwise a huge among of inconvenience and distress will be caused to both personal and businesses customers.”
