Banking firm HSBC will close 82 branches across the UK, the company has announced.

Sites will start shutting their doors from April 23, starting with Edinburgh’s Princes Street branch, with approximately three closing each week until the end of September.

HSBC said the Covid-19 pandemic has seen a greater shift to online banking but insisted the closures were not entirely related to the lockdowns and restrictions introduced.

HSBC financialsHSBC said it will reformat stores and keep some full-service branches where required. (Tim Ockenden / PA)

Staff in branches facing closure are also expected to be redeployed to other branches and sites within 15 miles of their homes.

HSBC said the closures are part of plans to become a market-leading digital bank and an overhaul of how remaining branches will operate.

Of the 82 sites closing, 81 are within a mile of a Post Office, two thirds are within five miles of another HSBC branch and nine in 10 are within 10 miles, the bank added.

Bosses said the changes will see four distinct branch formats that “best suit customer needs, based on detailed analysis of customer behaviour”.

These include full service branches, cash service branches for customers who need greater access to cash, counterless branches with self-services only and pop up branches.

Jackie Uhi, HSBC UK’s head of network, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has emphasised the need for the changes that we are making.

“It hasn’t pushed us in a different direction but reinforces the things that we were focusing on before and has crystallised our thinking.

“This is a strategic direction that we need to take to have a branch network fit for the future.

“Making sure we have a sustainable branch network is essential to us, and decisions to close branches are not taken lightly.

“By ensuring we have the most suitable branch format in each specific local market that we serve, we will ensure that we are in good shape to meet the challenges ahead.”

She added that stripping out any impact of the pandemic, the number of customers using branches has fallen by a third in the last five years.

Nine in ten of all customer contact the bank over the phone, internet or smartphone and staff talk with more than 100,000 customers a week on social media.

Similar moves were announced in the past 12 months by rivals and a recent report by consumer group Which? found banks and building societies closed, or scheduled to close, 3,770 branches since January 2015.

The full list of HSBC branches set to close this year.

Friday 23 April

  • Edinburgh, Princess St

Friday 7 May

  • Brighton, Ditchling Road
  • Hull, Merit House
  • Wednesbury
  • Sutton Coldfield, Four Oaks

Friday 14 May

  • Hull, Holderness Road
  • Pontyclun, Talbot Green
  • London, Fleet Street
  • London, Fenchurch Street

Friday 21 May

  • London, Old Broad Street
  • London, Charing Cross
  • Sheffield, Darnall
  • Oxford, Summertown

Friday 28 May

  • Leeds, Chapel Allerton
  • Cardiff, Rumney
  • Torquay, Strand
  • Staines

Friday 4 June

  • Plymouth, Forder House
  • Belper, King Street
  • Colchester
  • London, Whitechapel

Friday 11 June

  • London, Marylebone
  • London, Streatham Hill
  • Falkirk High Street
  • Fleet, Fleet Road

Friday 18 June

  • Reading, Woodley
  • Oxford, Headington
  • Swansea, Gorseinon
  • Wigston, Leicester Road

Friday 25 June

  • Tavistock, Bedford Square
  • Bristol, Nailsea
  • Leeds, Cross Gates
  • Yate, North Walk

Friday 2 July

  • London, Kingsbury Road
  • Cleckheaton, Bradford Road
  • Bexleyheath, Broadway
  • London, South Woodford

Friday 9 July

  • Birmingham, Erdington
  • Goole, Wesley Square
  • Congleton, High Street
  • Formby, Chapel Lane

Friday 16 July

  • Gillingham, Kent
  • Dunstable, West Street
  • Chorley, Market Street
  • Pontypridd, Taff Street

Friday 23 July

  • Felixstowe, Hamilton Road
  • Godalming, High Street
  • Prestatyn, High Street
  • London, Southgate

Friday 30 July

  • Tewkesbury, High Street
  • Maldon, High Street
  • Hatfield, Herts
  • Huntingdon, High Street

Friday 6 August

  • Stockport, Bramhall
  • London, Russell Square
  • Richmond Yorkshire, Market Place

Friday 13 August

  • Loughton, High Road
  • Rustington, The Street
  • Exmouth, Chapel Street

Friday 20 August

  • Bournemouth, Winton
  • Liverpool, University
  • Cleveleys, Victoria Square
  • Clevedon, Triangle

Friday 27 August

  • Northallerton, High Street
  • Walton-on-Thames, High Street
  • London, High Holborn

Friday 3 September

  • Aldershot, Wellington Street
  • Eastcote, Field End Road
  • London, Edgware Road

Friday 10 September

  • Ramsgate, High Street
  • Manchester, Chorlton-Cum-Hardy
  • Letchworth, Station Place
  • London, Hackney

Friday 17 September

  • Barnet, High Street
  • Deal, High Street
  • Cheshunt, Turners Hill
  • Swadlincote, High Street

Friday 24 September

  • Dorking, West Street
  • Welshpool, Broad Street
  • London, Surrey Quays
  • Worksop, Bridge Street