Nationwide Building Society has pledged to “keep all our branches open until 2030” and “value cash” as Britons continue to search for in-person banking services going into the New Year.
Bank branch closures have become the norm in recent years, with major financial institutions leaving the high street, including Lloyds Bank, Barclays, NatWest, and Santander.
Amid this wave of closures and move to online banking, concerns have been raised over dwindling access to cash services, which many vulnerable groups heavily rely on.
According to data compiled by Nationwide Building Society, cash withdrawals from ATMs in Britain reached £4.2billion last year, besting the previous high of £4billion in 2017.
Nationwide has pledged to keep all its branches open until 2030
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GETTY / NATIONWIDE BUILDING SOCIETY
The building society noted that this spike in withdrawals from ATMs is turning to cash to better manage their finances, with Nationwide polling revealing that 13 per cent of the British public prefer to spend using physical money.
Some 34.7 million cash withdrawals from the 1,270 ATMs at Nationwide’s 605 branches last year, which is an increase of around six per cent on 2024. The average amount of cash withdrawn went up from £113 in 2024 to £120 in 2025.
Unsurprisingly, the Christmas season for the week beginning December 15 was the busiest period, with there being £103million in cash withdrawals. This is a five per cent increase year on year.
This represents the highest amount dispensed in a week since before the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the week leading up to Black Friday also saw a nine per cent year-on-year spike, with £93 million withdrawn over the period.
Bank branch closures are continuing at an ‘alarming rate’, according to Which? | GETTY
Research conducted by consumer champion Which? found that 6,626 bank branches have shut their doors since January 2015, averaging around 53 closures per month.
This means that 67 per cent of the bank branch network that existed at the start of 2015. Nationwide Building Society has 135 “last in town”branches and this is expected to rise this year.
Based on the building society’s data, there was a six per cent increase in withdrawals from non-Nationwide customers, while there has also been a six per cent increase from Nationwide customers.
As a result, Nationwide Building Society is now the country’s largest single-brand banking network with 605 branches, with each location to remain operating until the end of the decade.
Nationwide Building Society is giving back to customers | NATIONWIDE BUILDING SOCIETY | GETTY
Through Nationwide’s “Branch Promise”, the building society has promised to continue providing face-to-face services. in practice, everywhere Nationwide has a branch will remain open until at least 2030, including 91 Virgin Money branches.
The biggest increase in cash withdrawals was reported in East Anglia and Essex, the shires, and South London. Some 42 per cent of all ATM transactions are for other services, from printing mini-statements and paying bills, and changing PINs to paying in cash and cheques.
When it comes to depositing cash, Nationwide has seen 4.2 million transactions this year. The building society noted that the average deposit amount rose from £278 to £281.
This is reflected in the continued use of ATMs for everyday banking. Despite this, the amount of cash being deposited is down four per cent compared to the peak seen in 2022.
Mandy Beech, the director of Retail Services at Nationwide Building Society, outlined the financial institution’s commitment to members and the importance of keeping bank branches open.
He shared: “Nationwide has the UK’s largest branch network, and we see daily how our customers value cash and face-to-face service. That’s why we’ve promised to keep all our branches open until 2030.
“ATM usage last year exceeded the previous peak in 2017, and while it is interesting to see ATM withdrawals continuing to rise, it is exacerbated by ongoing closures of bank branches.
“Which? figures show there has been a massive reduction in the number of branches in communities, which might point to why we are also seeing a rise in withdrawals coming from non-Nationwide customers.”