Montgomeryshire AM Mick Bates has welcomed the news that Post Offices will become new banking centres for their community and there will be no programme of branch closures under new government plans to modernise and sustain the Post Office network.
Commenting, Mick Bates AM said:
“I welcome the news that there will be no programme of Post Office closures under the new coalition Government, but strong investment in our local branches. Post Offices are at the heart of our communities and without them we would have no infrastructure for the delivery of local services, especially financial services.
“With the recent services cuts to RBS/Natwest branches in Montgomeryshire I have been calling for community banking services to be introduced and have met with the Chief Executive of RBS/Natwest to discuss the community banking concept. We have a strong group in Montgomeryshire who are working with me to campaign for as many banking facilities as possible to be retained in our local area.
“The Post Office offers huge potential to plug the gap left by the demise of many local services and the closures and cuts to our local bank branches and I am pleased that RBS has realised this potential, by signing an agreement to offer customers access to their current and businesses accounts through the Post Office.
“I hope that more high street banks will come on board and I welcome the government’s support for the Post Office to expand further into financial services and to look at ways of working more closely with credit unions, which is the very type of community facility I have been advocating.
“Along with the £1.3billion investment in the network, I hope these plans will help the Post Office to invest and become more sustainable, to secure the long-term future of the network and the provision of a range of financial products and services in rural areas.”
