The boss of Barclays has promised not to announce any more branch closures this year or next in a boost for the High Street.
Chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan, known as Venkat, made the pledge as he faced questions at the lender’s annual general meeting from shareholders over its shrinking presence in towns and cities.
But the bank refused to rule out shutting more sites in the coming years.
Major UK lenders have been axing their branch networks as customers switch to digital banking. But critics have said the move risks cutting older people and vulnerable customers off from their finances.
Responding to a question on further closures, Venkat said: ‘We don’t have any plans to announce further bank branch closures in 2025 or 2026’.
Following further probing on plans for the next three to five years, chairman Nigel Higgins told shareholders: ‘We have not made plans that far out.
Pledge: Barclays Chief exec CS Venkatakrishnan (pictured), known as Venkat, has promised not to announce any more branch closures in 2025 or 2026
‘It isn’t part of our thinking. We want to see how the current branch strategy plays out.’ He added: ‘We have to face the reality that there is a massive shift away from branches to digital banking and we are trying to get the balance right.’
According to the latest figures from consumer group Which?, more than 6,300 branches have shut in the last decade. Barclays has closed 1,236 – more than any other lender.
The pledge not to close more branches for now comes after HSBC said last year that it would not shut more until at least 2026. Nationwide, Britain’s biggest building society, has promised to keep its sites open until the start of 2028.
There was heightened security at the QEII Centre in central London where the Barclays AGM was held yesterday. A mob of protesters gathered outside, waving Palestine flags and holding banners that accused it of ‘banking on genocide’.
Barclays has faced a backlash, including vandalism of branches, for lending to defence firms that supply Israel.
Pro-Palestine protesters disrupted the meeting several times in the first ten minutes before being removed.
But one shareholder told Higgins that the views expressed by the demonstrators were ‘not necessarily shared by all of us’.
In response to a question later in the meeting, the bank chairman said: ‘We abhor the human suffering on all sides in the conflict in the Middle East.
‘We are not arbiters of foreign policy… we take the lead set by our government.’
Barclays has said its role as a lender involves providing financial services to defence companies, including US, UK and European firms supplying products to Nato and other allies.
Last week, the bank reported a better-than-expected 19 per cent rise in first-quarter profits to £2.7billion. But it warned of a slowdown in dealmaking and lending amid tariff uncertainty.
Barclays shares fell 0.7 per cent, or 1.95p, to 296.15p yesterday.
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