Banks have been criticised for making life for older people “really difficult” with three HSBC branches in north London set to close this year.

Under current plans, HSBC branches in Finchley Road, Hampstead, (August 15), Palmers Green (July 4) and North Finchley (August 8) will all shut this summer.

This will leave just one branch open in each of the boroughs of Enfield (Enfield Town), Barnet (Edgware), Haringey (Muswell Hill) and Camden (Camden Town).

Age UK, a charity for older people, has raised concerns about bank closures across the country, claiming that “it’s not what many older people want or need”.

One elderly resident in Barnet told Times Series said: “There used to be HSBC branches everywhere.

“There is no counter-service anymore in Barnet, even though HSBC recently reported billions of profits. It’s very upsetting.”

In October 2022, HSBC posted profits of $2.56 billion after tax in the third quarter of 2022.  

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: "Every week we seem to hear of another round of bank branch closures, and it's making life for older people who don't want to or can't bank online really difficult.

“Closing a branch saves a bank money, but it's not what many older people want or need, having been quite happy with banking face to face throughout their lives."

HSBC has not responded to a request for comment, but when announcing the closures in November 2022, said that the decision to close a branch is “never easy or taken lightly”.

At the time, Jackie Uhi, HSBC UK’s managing director of UK distribution, said: “People are changing the way they bank and footfall in many branches is at an all-time low, with no signs of it returning. Banking remotely is becoming the norm for the vast majority of us.

“The decision to close a branch is never easy or taken lightly, especially if we are the last branch in an area, so we’ve invested heavily in our ‘post-closure’ strategy, including providing free tablet devices to selected branch customers who do not already have a device to bank digitally, alongside one-to-one coaching to help them migrate to digital banking.”