Jeremy Hunt to open the 31st banking hub on the high street in Haslemere today

Cash Access UK is planning to open two hubs a week next year to reach the target of 300 to 350 hubs.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will officially open the 31st banking hub today (22 December) on the high street in Haslemere, one of the market towns in his constituency of South West Surrey.

Link, which operates the cash machine network, recommended creation of the hub in the former Lloyds branch, after assessing a formal request from the local community, The Times reported.

Nine of the main banks have collaborated to create a vehicle called Cash Access UK, which is setting up the hubs and other services.

“Face-to-face banking still has a role to play and I am delighted, after all the discussion and negotiation, that we have secured this for the town,” the report quoted Hunt as saying.

With banks closing their branches, the hubs are designed to support small businesses that handle cash, and people who use cash and value face-to-face banking services.

As estimated by the consumer group Which?, nearly 6,000 branches have closed since 2015, and many more are likely to be closed next year.

For example, Barclays has announced to close two of its branches in prime minister Rishi Sunak’s constituency of Richmond, North Yorkshire, next year.

This year, the government passed a legislation which prevents banks from closing the last branch on high streets without making arrangement for a suitable replacement. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is working on how the regulations will be implement effectively.

Gareth Oakley, who heads Cash Access UK, is planning to open about two hubs a week from next year onwards to reach a target of 300 to 350 banking hubs under the current voluntary scheme, as the FCA’s consultation has suggested.

“We need to be running at a pace of about a hundred hubs a year. We probably won’t do a hundred next year, but we will probably do eighty to ninety. We would be expecting to be doing this for three years,” he said, as quoted by the publication.

According to Oakley, these hubs are getting positive response from the public, with up to 150 people using them a day.