HSBC bank has announced three of its North Yorkshire branches will close in the autumn.

The British-based multinational banking and financial services company will close its Boroughbridge and Knaresborough branches on October 14 and Hawes branch a week later.

An HSBC spokesman said any employees directly impacted by these closures would be offered a role at its other branches.

The moves comes two months after it was revealed more than 600 Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Santander, Barclays and the Co-operativebank branches had closed across Britain over the previous year, with rural areas the worst affected.

Banks have cited falling demand for branches as an increasing number of people opt to do their banking online.

An HSBC spokesperson said: “We continually review our branch network to make sure our branches are in the right locations for our customers and we have a sustainable network for the future. Over the past five years, we have seen an overall reduction of footfall at our branches of more than 40 per cent, and sometimes we have to make the difficult decision to close individual branches.

“These are not decisions we take lightly and we work closely with those impacted, including customers, to help them understand their options.

“We understand branch closures may cause concern for some of our customers, therefore we have put in place a number of measures to help, including a partnership with the Post Office, so our customers can carry out day-to-day banking locally.”