The TSB bank has axed its Wimborne operation after discovering that only five customers were using the branch regularly. “In the last two years we’ve seen a 43 per cent decrease in transactions at this branch, with only five customers visiting regularly, four of which use the branch and no other channel,” it said. The bank claimed it had ‘looked carefully’ at the way its branch in The Square, pictured right, was used and discovered that 75 per cent of its personal, and 83 per cent of its business customers use another branch or means of banking, such as online. Wimborne TSB will shut its doors on April 13 next year and news of its closure came one week after the town learned it was losing its branch of NatWest. The news leaves TSB customers with Boscombe as their nearest walk-in branch. TSB said: “The way customers bank with us is changing with the vast majority of everyday transactions now being made digitally. Over 2.2 million of our customers now choose to bank online, and more than 1.6million use our Mobile Banking App. “Even before covid-19, customers were choosing other ways to bank with us, with 44 per cent using services at our cash machines and 24 per cent using a Post Office. “We have supported over 1.1million customers through our online chat service and our customers continue to use our telephone and video banking services.”

By Faith Eckersall