Local access to banking services is to be all but lost with the imminent closure of the Bank of Scotland in Balivanich.
The cash machine attached to the branch is also to be withdrawn. It is one of only two 24-hour access autotellers available to the local population. The other is in Lochboisdale.
Lloyds Banking Group confirmed last month that the branch will shut permanently on 1 July 2026. The ATM will be switched off on 30 July 2026.
The news comes as it was reported that Lloyds Banking Group chief executive, Charlie Nunn, saw his pay increase from £6.2 million to £7.4 million in 2025.
Low footfall was cited as the reason for the closure. Lloyds Banking Group claims only 216 customers used the branch on a regular basis between last June and November.
85% of customers use the bank for personal transactions. The remaining 15% are business customers.
The closure comes two years after the Bank of Scotland in Lochmaddy was shut for good.
The only banking facility remaining within driving range is the Royal Bank in Lochboisdale. But it is now only open two days a week, for a total of ten hours.
Torcuil Crichton MP reported that Lloyds Banking Group “made it clear they are not open to reconsidering the decision” during a meeting in London.
Speaking further in the House of Commons, Mr Crichton outlined his fear that no banking hub will be introduced in the area as a replacement. LINK, the interbank network, could potentially step in to fill the gap with a banking hub. Banking hubs are shared banking spaces designed to restore in-person services where branches have shut.
Mr Crichton said: “The danger now is that we will have no banking hub because the population of Benbecula and Uist is too small to fit into the parameters of a banking hub.”
He called on Treasury Minister, Lucy Rigby MP, to ensure that LINK and associated authorities expand and adjust their parameters so that sparsely populated and island populations continue to have banking services available to them.
There is also concern about the loss of several positions of employment within the Balivanich branch of Bank of Scotland.
Cllr Paul Steele, Leader of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, said: “I’m concerned about the impact on staff employed in the Balivanich branch, and the extent to which they can be offered viable redeployment opportunities within the Bank of Scotland without needing to leave the islands.
“I urge the Bank of Scotland to reconsider this decision, or to explore alternative options and partnerships to retain existing staff and secure delivery of these essential services in the community.”
There has been a Bank of Scotland presence in Benbecula for the best part of a century, with the branch first based at Creagorry. The current bank was built on the Commercial Development Site within Balivanich the centre of Balivanich which was purchased by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar after 1975.
