A Strong High Street Presence

We will open 100 new branches over the next five years, creating around 1,500 new customer-facing jobs.

Halifax and Bank of Scotland are two of the best-known brands in the financial services industry.  We have over 1,100 bank branches across the UK and three times as many bank branches in the fifty most deprived areas than in the fifty most affluent.

We have a network of about 2,750 ATMs offering free access to cash.  In July 2006, we were one of the first UK banks to announce plans this to install 100 new free ATMs in areas of need across Scotland and the North of England – our heartlands.  As of February 2007 we have secured 85 agreements in principle to install new ATMs including 22 that have already been installed.

Bank of Scotland has six mobile branches which provide a full banking service to local communities, incorporating both business and personal customers. They each cover a variety of businesses as well as schools, retirement homes, community groups and worksites.

We are expanding our branch network, opening 100 new branches over the next five years. We plan for around one sixth of these to be opened in the bottom 50 most deprived areas. They will be concentrated in the South as we expand our presence outside our heartlands in Scotland and Yorkshire.