BANKING firms have announced plans to close more high street branches around the UK in 2023.

HSBC, Halifax, Barclays and Lloyds are among the banks planning to close branches in Wales this year.

This week, Lloyds Banking Group and Natwest announced the closure of a combined 80 branches around the UK.

They are the latest planned closures announced in recent months, as banks reduce their high street presence nationwide.

Often the closures are blamed on customers' changing habits, sped up by the pandemic, that saw more people turn to mobile and internet banking.

Fortunately, none of the Lloyds group and Natwest closures announced this week are in Gwent, but customers in other parts of South Wales will be affected.

Lloyds will shut its branch in Porthcawl and Ystradgynlais in September, while its subsidiary Halifax will also close its doors in Porthcawl in the same month.

Natwest, meanwhile, will close a branch in Cardiff in July.

In Gwent, HSBC has already announced the loss of several branches over the coming months, beginning with its bank in Abergavenny in mid-April.

Blackwood, Chepstow and Pontypool will also lose their HSBC branches by the end of the summer, and in the Vale of Glamorgan the firm will also close down its Penarth branch in a few month's time.

Recently, Barclays announced it would close down its Ebbw Vale branch after the growth of online and phone banking had "a big impact on the number of customers coming in to see us".

The loss of local banking services has been met with disappointment by Blaenau Gwent MP Nick Smith, who told the Argus at the time of the announcement "there is no doubt that closing this bank will have a detrimental impact on the town centre and on local businesses, as well as leaving many people who do not use online banking without access to vital services".