A MAJOR high street bank is making a huge change to opening hours, and it’s bad news for loyal customers.
Metro Bank has confirmed its branches will no longer open seven days a week as part of an overhaul that will also see the axing of around 1,000 jobs.
RexMetro Bank is making a major change to its branch operating hours later this month[/caption]
From March 29, all 76 stores will no longer open on Sundays or bank holidays, and opening hours will be cut following a review launched last autumn.
The group said that the bulk of its branches – 44 sites – will only be open five days a week, from Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 5pm.
The remaining 32 stores will be open six days a week, from 9.30am to 5pm on Monday to Friday, and 11am to 4pm on Saturdays.
Metro Bank branches are currently open from 8.30am until 6pm from Monday to Saturday and 11am to 5pm on Sunday.
The troubled high street lender said previously announced plans to cut annual costs by £50 million was seeing it shed around 22% of its 4,266-strong workforce by mid-April – higher than the 20% originally expected.
It said it was looking to cut another £30 million by the end of 2024, which chief executive Daniel Frumkin cautioned would “inevitably” lead to more jobs going.
But Metro Bank said it would not close any of its branches under the overhaul.
It plans to open at least 11 more sites, mainly across the North of England.
Mr Frumkin said despite rowing back on its seven-days-a-week trading, it would “still be open more hours than other competitors on the high street”.
Most competitors open their branches a maximum of six days a week, and even their site opening hours can vary between from 9:00-9:30a.m. until 3:30 or 4:00p.m.
Check your bank’s website to find your local branch’s operating hours.
On the extra cost savings, he said not all of it would come from additional job losses, but said “inevitably some will have to come from colleague costs”.
Details of the overhaul came as it reported a £16.9million underlying loss for 2023, narrowed from losses of £50.6million in 2022.
On a statutory basis, the group said it returned to profit for the first time since 2018, with pre-tax profits of £30.5million.
Last October, Metro Bank calmed fears about its financial state after a £925million rescue that saw a Colombian billionaire become its biggest shareholder.
It came a week after its share price collapsed amid fears about its race to raise funds.
Colombian banking billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal put in £102million to boost his stake from just over nine per cent to 53%.
Metro Bank has focused on having branches on high streets, meaning it incurs more costs than rivals who concentrate online.
Mr Gilinski Bacal, an investor since 2019, said he has belief in the need “for physical and digital banking”.
In December, Metro Bank abandoned its planned sale of a £3billion mortgage portfolio, citing market conditions.
The bank began exploring the potential sale in October, as part of urgent moves to bolster its balance sheet.
But the refinancing, backed by Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski, had given it renewed balance sheet strength.