Nationwide Building Society has committed to keeping all 696 of its combined Nationwide and Virgin Money branches open until at least 2030.
This pledge extends the society’s existing “branch promise” by a minimum of two years, applying even where outlets are close, following Nationwide’s acquisition of Virgin Money last year.
The move contrasts with the ongoing trend of bank branch closures across the UK, with banking hubs and Post Office services often filling the void.
Nationwide highlighted that while vulnerable and older customers rely on face-to-face support, younger people also use branches.
More than one in ten new student accounts were opened in branches during the recent academic year, the society noted.
Dame Debbie Crosbie, group chief executive at Nationwide, said: “Branches are important to our customers, to communities and to the health of our high streets.
“That’s why Nationwide will continue to keep branches open in addition to our investment in online and telephone channels.”
Nationwide said it operates the UK’s biggest single-brand banking network, with 605 branches. When combined with Virgin Money’s 91 branches, the total network expands to 696 branches.
The society said it has seen a particular increase in account openings in locations where it is the “last branch in town”.
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It said that, since January, another 33 Nationwide branches have became the last in town when other banks have closed their branches.
The society said a third (33 per cent) of Nationwide current accounts and about a fifth (22 per cent) of savings accounts were opened in branch in the six months to the end of September, with volumes up compared with a year earlier.
Nationwide’s branch promise was first introduced in 2019 and was extended last year, when Nationwide included the Virgin Money branches it gained when it acquired the bank in October 2024.
The society also uses branches to host dementia clinics via Dementia UK’s specialist admiral nurses, to hold digital lessons to boost people’s tech confidence and to provide “safe spaces” to support victim-survivors of domestic abuse.
