{"id":513695,"date":"2026-04-05T05:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T05:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/513695\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T05:13:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T05:13:11","slug":"barclays-planning-return-to-high-street-branches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/513695\/","title":{"rendered":"Barclays planning return to high street branches"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Barclays is planning to return to the high street by opening new branches and bringing back \u201cbank managers\u201d, The Times has reported.<\/p>\n

Vim Maru, chief executive officer at Barclays UK, told the paper he does not want customers to get \u201cstuck in some chatbot\u201d when they need help.<\/p>\n

Since 2018, more than 800 Barclays branches have closed \u2013 leaving 206 still open around the UK, according to the company\u2019s latest annual report.<\/p>\n

Mr Maru joined Barclays in 2023, and took over running the UK arm of the bank in 2024.<\/p>\n

\"Vim Vim Maru, CEO of Barclays UK (Parliament\/PA) \u00b7 House of Commons\/UK Parliament <\/p>\n

He said that one of his \u201cearly decisions\u201d was to pause the closures and plans to expand again.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the paper, Mr Maru said: \u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is something that allows us to differentiate in front of our customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course we\u2019re going to be great in digital \u2013 but we\u2019re going to be there for you when you need some help and support. You\u2019re not going to be stuck in some chatbot trying to get out of the loop and trying to speak to someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The chief executive does not accept that branches were closed too quickly, but has noted that many customers still \u201cvalue physical presence\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe branch manager or bank manager is back. Most customers come in and they want to talk to the bank manager from time to time,\u201d said Mr Maru.<\/p>\n

The decision to move back towards traditional banking comes as previously digital-only banks, such as Revolut, have started moving into the current account market in the UK.<\/p>\n

In a statement to the Press Association, Mr Maru said: \u201cEven in a digital world, many customers still value physical presence and the ability to talk to our colleagues when they need support.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn response to changes to where people work, live and shop over the last few years, we have relocated some of our branches and extended branch opening hours, adding 33,500 hours of in-branch availability per year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are now looking to enhance and invest in our branch footprint alongside our contact centres and app as we continue to meet the changing preferences of our customers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barclays is planning to return to the high street by opening new branches and bringing back \u201cbank managers\u201d,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[179560,16820,84,2339,33148,59,179561,56,54,55,179559],"class_list":{"0":"post-513695","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-bank-manager","9":"tag-barclays","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-chief-executive-officer","12":"tag-customers","13":"tag-gb","14":"tag-mr-maru","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom","18":"tag-vim-maru"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}