00:00buildings in the middle of our town centres.
00:02Jane Dodds.
00:03Jane Dodds.
00:04Diolch yn fawr iawn.
00:05Whilst many of us have moved to internet banking as an option to do our banking, communities
00:11still value a physical bank in their town.
00:15Lloyds Bank posted profits in this quarter only of £1.3 billion, and yet they are abandoning
00:25the residents of Powys.
00:27As from March next year, there will be no Lloyds Bank left in Powys.
00:31They are moving out of Brecon, they have moved out of Ystradgynlais, one of the largest towns
00:37in Powys, and just abandoning residents, particularly older people and people who rely on cash such
00:44as our farmers.
00:45One of the success stories has been the Welshpool banking hub, which opened over a year ago.
00:51So, I'd like to ask the Welsh Government, what are you doing to promote banking hubs
00:56and community banks in order to ensure that our town centres remain lively, that people
01:01come to them who need the opportunity to bank in person, and to promote those opportunities
01:07to our residents?
01:08Diolch yn fawr iawn.
01:09Janet Finch-Saunders AM.
01:10Thanks very much.
01:11You're quite right, Jane.
01:12There's been a series of bank closures over a number of years now, and that is something
01:17that is of concern, obviously, in particular in those more rural areas.
01:22Older people struggle, as you say, but also small businessesóthere's a lot of small
01:26businesses that like to use those local facilities.
01:31But you're also right in pointing out that some of the banking hubs have been quite successful,
01:36and we would be encouraging more of those to be set up.
01:40The UK Government also has some ideas around this, and, obviously, we're having conversations
01:44with them about whether there's anything that they have that could perhaps be of interest
01:50to us in seeing if that's something that we could extend to Wales.
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