Fenland branch of Santander is among 140 set to close this Spring

The Spanish-owned bank announced plans to reshape its branch network, cutting its branches by around a fifth, in response to changes the way customers do their banking.

The Market Place branch in Wisbech will close at the beginning of May - eight months after the closure of the March Broad Street branch shut its doors.

Wednesday's announcement also follows hot on the heels of news that Barclay's is closing its branches in Chatteris and Whittlesey in May.

Barclays also blamed a change in the way customers do their banking and Terry Staff, community banking director for Barclays Cambridgeshire said: “The way customers undertake their banking is changing as people increasingly use online, telephone and mobile devices.”

The number of customers using Chatteris Barclays had fallen by almost a third in the past two years with 80 per cent of regular customers doing their banking online and by telephone.

Santander says that after consulting with trade unions it will seek alternative roles for the 1,270 people affected by the closures with plans to redeploy around a third of those hit by the announcement.

Susan Allen, head of retail and business banking, said: “The way our customers are choosing to bank with us has changed dramatically in recent years.

“More and more customers are using online and mobile channels. As a result, we have had to take some very difficult decisions over our less visited branches.

“We will support customers of closing branches to find alternative ways to bank with us that best suit their individual needs.

“We continue to believe that branches have a vital role to play and we will be refurbishing 100 of our branches over the next two years.

“We are confident that following these changes we will have the right branch network to serve our customers’ changing needs, and we expect the size of our network to remain stable for the foreseeable future.”

Last year saw Chatteris pensioner Mary Green staged a one-woman campaign to try to save the town's Lloyd's bank branch - but despite writing to the government for support she lost the fight and the branch closed in October.

The King's Lynn Santander branch is not among those affected by the latest cuts.