Richard Lochhead MSP has met with the Bank of Scotland to raise concerns expressed to him by constituents about the withdraw of their mobile service in Moray from May 2024.
Moray’s MSP met with representatives from the bank to hear about the rationale to remove the service, as well as some of the statistics behind the decision, and urged them to do all they can to ensure that residents in the impacted areas continue to have regular access to vital banking services.
Mr Lochhead had also written to the UK Government calling on them to ensure that banking services in rural areas are protected, having raised the issue of access to banking with UK Government ministers on several occasions in the past.
Commenting after the meeting, SNP MSP Richard Lochhead said:
“I know that many constituents and businesses across Moray will have been concerned to hear that the Bank of Scotland plan to withdraw their mobile banking van from the area in May and will be worried about access to local banking.
“While there may be Post Offices which can provide banking services in most of the impacted towns and villages, many elderly and vulnerable folk will only just have got to grips with using the mobile branch and so yet another change in how they bank will be significant for them.
“I pressed the Bank of Scotland to ensure that they redouble their efforts to make sure that all of their customers can continue to access accessible banking services.
“Like what happened in Forres, there is a case for investigating locations for more banking hubs located in one or more of the communities affected and this is something I will be pursuing with Link.
“This latest reduction in face to face banking services highlights the importance of tackling financial exclusion and ensuring help is available for people who are unable to
“There remains a need for the UK Government to step in and ensure access to banking in rural areas like Moray is provided more protection and financial exclusion is tackled head on.”
