...Campaign for Community Banking...

The Campaign for Community Banking Services pressure group is a co-ordinating body for national organisations representing sectoral interests adversely affected by the closure of local bank branches, particularly of the last or only bank in a rural or urban community. Nearly 1000 communities have lost all their banks, hundreds more will do so in the next 5 years.

The principal concerns are the impact of closures on :-

Access to Financial Services
The economic cost and inconvenience to small businesses, the elderly, the disabled and others of having to use alternative banking locations/facilities; and

The social cost of excluding low-income consumers from mainstream financial services : exacerbated by the absence of a community based banking presence.

Sustainability of Communities
Bank branch closures contribute to commercial decline of communities as better off consumers change their purchasing habits along with the need to travel further afield for banking services, businesses close, re-generation is rendered more unlikely and start-up finance for local business becomes more difficult to obtain.

The Environment
Actions taken by consumers to overcome the problems caused directly and indirectly by bank branch closures contribute to environmental damage, for example, through increasing motor vehicle usage.