Virgin Money is to close 31 branches with the loss of 112 jobs in the latest round of cuts blamed on the shift to online banking.

The cuts, which mainly affect sites in northern England and Scotland, follow previous closures and head office cuts announced last year and will reduce the lender’s number of branches to 131.

Virgin’s changes, which will also see it scale back office space used by its employees to give them “greater flexibility around working patterns and location”, will cost it £45m.

The bank said the decision on each site was based on location, usage, proximity to alternative branches and lease arrangements. Closures will take place in early 2022.

They were described as being part of Virgin’s “acceleration of its digital strategy”.

The lender said: “Emerging from the pandemic, the group continues to see greater appetite for digital self-service, with customers increasingly adopting digital channels.

“The group also continues to evolve its operating model to reduce real estate costs along with giving colleagues more flexibility, and to take opportunities to increase automation, leveraging technology throughout key processes.”

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Fergus Murphy, group customer experience director at Virgin Money, said: “As our customers change the way they want to bank with us and conduct fewer transactions in-store, we must continue to evolve the role of our stores into places where we showcase our products and bring our digital services to life.”

The lender has been cutting jobs and branches since its 2018 tie-up with Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking group.

It has reduced the number of jobs by about 2,000 to 7,500 and cut branches from 245 at the time of the merger.

Last month, the lender said it was closing its charitable fundraising website Virgin Money Giving in a cost-cutting move.

Here is a list of the latest branch closures:

• Airdrie
• Grantham
• Northallerton
• Ashton-Under-Lyne
• Keighley
• Newcastle, Northumberland St
• Banchory
• Leeds, Horsforth
• Nuneaton
• Beverley
• Leeds, White Rose
• Oban
• Blackburn
• Lincoln
• Portree
• Broughty Ferry
• Macclesfield
• Selby
• Chesterfield
• Mexborough
• Sheffield, Meadowhall
• Cumbernauld
• Milngavie
• Stenhousemuir
• East Kilbride, Princes Square
• Musselburgh
• Whitby
• Galashiels
• Nelson
• Wick
• Gosforth (staff-only site)

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