BARCLAYS is to close its Caerphilly town branch in three months' time - its third announced bank closure in the county borough this year.

According to information published by the banking giant, 88 per cent of people who use the branch also banked using online or telephone services and that just 12 customers regularly use the branch as their only means of banking.

The Caerphilly branch, in Cardiff Road, will close permanently on Friday, October 13, this year.

Barclays' latest closure announcement is the third this year following Bargoed, which closed in April, and Risca, which will close its doors for good on May 17 next year.

The closure is the latest to in a long line from the major banking groups. Blackwood's HSBC branch will shut on Tuesday, July 25, after its closure was announced in November last year.

Despite losing Barclays, Caerphilly town still has several other banks on its streets - other towns such as Risca are often without any face-to-face banking facilities.

In Bargoed, Barclays staff regularly hold surgeries in the library, while Lloyds operates a mobile bank to visit areas where it used to have branches.

Other towns left without a bank and a significant post office, such as Risca, qualify to have a banking hub - a new scheme run by LINK, the organisation which operates the UK's cash machine network.

There are currently four banking hubs up and running in the UK at the moment in Devon, Lanarkshire, Yorkshire and Essex. Around 100 locations have been earmarked for a banking hub - including Risca, which will likely open once Barclays closes next year.

Banking hubs are a shared banking space, similar to a traditional bank branch, but available to everyone. The hub will consist of a counter service operated by Post Office employees, where customers of any bank can withdraw and deposit cash, make bill payments and carry out regular banking transactions.

There will also be private spaces where customers can speak to staff from their own bank for more complicated matters on set days.