UK consumers report the steepest decline in access to in-person banking services across Europe, according to new research from CRIF.
New research from Italy-based CRIF, covering five European markets, has found that 20% of UK consumers say bank branch closures are making it harder to access the financial services they need - placing the UK alongside Ireland at the top of the scale for reported impact. The findings arrive as the UK government launches an independent Access to Banking Review to assess whether further intervention is required to protect face-to-face banking access.
According to consumer advocacy organisation Which?, 6.719 bank and building society branches have closed across the UK since 2015, a decline that has materially changed how millions of people interact with their banks. By comparison, only 16% of consumers in Germany and 12% in Poland report a similar impact, suggesting the pace and scale of UK branch reduction has been more pronounced than in other major European economies.
Human access gap widens
The access problem extends beyond physical locations. CRIF's research finds that only 60% of UK consumers say they are able to speak to a real person when applying for financial products, the lowest figure recorded across all five markets surveyed and notably below the European average of 69%. In Poland, that figure reaches 79%. More significantly, 16% of UK consumers actively disagree that human access is available to them at all, again the highest proportion in Europe.
This points to a structural shift in how UK retail banking is delivered: one in which digital-first models have progressively displaced both branch networks and telephone-based human support, leaving a share of the population without the access channels they rely upon.
A generational divide is also evident in how consumers experience the shift. Whilst 46% of millennials report that digital technology has made banking easier to access, only 30% of baby boomers share that view. For banks operating across multiple customer segments, this divergence presents a challenge that neither purely digital nor purely physical strategies can address in isolation.
Household financial pressures compound the problem
The timing of the research adds a further dimension. Nearly two in five UK consumers (39%) expect to have less disposable income at the end of each month over the coming year, whilst 55% plan to reduce spending. These conditions mean that the consequences of reduced banking access are not confined to inconvenience: for consumers under financial stress, the ability to speak with someone and receive guidance may carry more material weight.
In addition, CRIF's regional director for the UK & Ireland noted that the government's review reflects the growing evidence that closures are leaving consumers without adequate support, and called for a balance between digital capability and human access, particularly for older and financially vulnerable customers.
The CRIF data is drawn from a survey of 5.000 consumers across Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, and the UK, conducted by Opinium Research between 20 March and 9 April 2026. A parallel survey of 500 business decision-makers across the same markets was conducted between 20 March and 7 April 2026. The findings form part of CRIF's forthcoming 2026 Banking on Banks report series, with the first instalment focused on
