CUSTOMERS at a bank in Penarth will have their accounts moved to a branch in central Cardiff when the town's HSBC closes in mid-June.

The firm has decided to close the branch in Herbert Terrace as part of plans to shut 114 sites across the UK this year.

A series of bank closures in Penarth have hit personal customers and businesses - and even the town council bemoaned the "disappointing" situation in April when it announced it could no longer bank there.

HSBC said the sweeping closures "reflect the long-term changes in the way customers choose to bank with us".

Accounts will be transferred to the branch in Cardiff's Queen Street when the Penarth branch closes its doors for the last time on Tuesday, June 13.

That means customers will face a 5.3-mile journey by car, or an estimated 43-minute trip on public transport, to get to their new branch - although HSBC pointed out its customers could use any branch for "day-to-day" services.

Personal customers can also use Post Office counters for some general services, including to pay in cash or cheques, withdraw money, or check their balances.

The nearest Post Office to the Penarth HSBC is a few minutes' walk away, in Glebe Street.

HSBC said the number of its UK customers using in-branch services had fallen by a third in the past five years.

The firm said nearly all of its customers in Penarth (95 per cent) had registered for telephone banking, and around two-thirds had signed up for internet and mobile banking services.

But the rates of customers, in the town, who are "active" users of those technologies is much lower: For phone banking the rate is 41 per cent, followed by mobile banking (37 per cent) and internet banking (31 per cent).

Significantly, one in three HSBC customers in Penarth "rely on branch-only banking and no other methods".

For branch customers considered "vulnerable", the usage of technological alternatives to in-person banking is even lower.

HSBC said 12 per cent of its vulnerable customers in Penarth were "active" users of telephone banking, while the fugres for mobile and internet banking were five and four per cent, respectively.

Some 15 per cent of the branch's vulnerable customers "do not use alternative banking channels and will be given additional support up to the closure", the bank added.