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8 ASIAN TRADER 4 OCTOBER 2024

UK banks have agreed to set up

350 “banking hubs” to address

the impact of thousands of

closures, the Treasury said, as

one lender announced it was

closing 55 more branches.

The shift to online banking

led to mass closings of UK bank

branches, with the elderly,

people with disabilities and

small businesses hardest hit,

especially in rural areas.

City minister Tulip Siddiq

secured the industry’s

agreement for the hubs rollout

over the next ﬁ ve years at a

meeting with representatives

of all the major high-street

banks, the ministry said.

“Banking hubs are a lifeline

for local communities that

have lost their ﬁ nal bank

branch,” Siddiq said.

“I’m conﬁ dent that the

banks will deliver on the

commitment made today, as

well as take a more active

approach to meeting the needs

of local communities,” she

added.

Between 1986 and 2023,

8,944 bank branches closed

their doors across the UK,

taking the total number of

branches in the country down

from 14,689 to 5,745, accord-

ing to of cial ﬁ gures.

The closures – by banks

including the big four of

Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and

NatWest - have alarmed

consumer groups, who argue

that they hit those who

predominantly still use cash,

particularly the elderly.

Under the agreement, 230

hubs will be in place by the end

of 2025 with a further 120

rolled out by mid-2029 at the

latest.

The hubs, a manifesto

commitment by Labour prime

minister Keir Starmer ahead of

the July election that brought

him to power, will be small

facilities that provide services

such as paying in cheques and

depositing cash.

New approach demanded after local branch extinction event

Lenders agree to set up ‘banking

hubs’ after mass closures

The Government has

scrapped plans for

“Not for EU” stickers

on milk, butter,

meat and fish being

sold in British shops

after repeated

warnings from the

food-makers that

the scheme could

cause “chaos” for

producers and

suppliers.

The Government has told

UK producers that it will

indefinitely postpone new

post-Brexit labelling rules,

which had been drawn up by

the previous Conservative

government. The rules were

set to require all meat, fish

and dairy products in

Britain to carry labels denot-

ing they could not be sent to

the EU and were expected to

come into force from next

month.

Judith Bryans, chief

executive of dairy group

DairyUK, said, “Dairy UK

welcomes the

announcement

that the GB-wide

‘Not for EU’

marking require-

ment will no

longer be rolled

out on 1 October

this year.

As part of the

Windsor frame-

work agreed with

the EU last year, all meat

and dairy products sent

from Britain to be sold in

Northern Ireland have,

since October 2023, had to

carry a “not for EU” label.

The measure is to prevent

goods from bypassing EU

controls.

Government scraps ‘Not for EU’

sticker plan for British food

Yoplait maker sells US

yogurt business

General Mills has announced that it

has entered into deﬁ nitive

agreements to sell its North

American yogurt business to

Lactalis and Sodiaal, two leading

French dairy companies, for $2.1

billion (£1.61bn).

Following the completion of the

transactions, the US and Canadian

businesses will operate inde-

pendently, with Lactalis acquiring

the US business and Sodiaal

acquiring the Canadian business.

General Mills chairman and chief

executive Jef Harmening said the

deal represents “another signiﬁ cant

step forward” in advancing their

Accelerate strategy and portfolio

reshaping ambitions.

Thurrock store reopens

after vape prosecution

More than 9,000 illegal vapes were

seized from a Thurrock shop last

year, it has been revealed.

Michael Dineen, assistant

director for counter fraud,

enforcement and community

protection at Thurrock Council

gave councillors a run-down of the

work of Thurrock’s Community

Safety Partnership following its

annual report for 2023/24.

He said: “That vape shop has now

re-opened and it’s totally legal now

so they’ve learnt their lesson so they

are back up and running and still

paying their rates so a job well done.”

Alert over fake

Glen’s vodka

Store owners were warned about

potentially lethal counterfeit vodka.

The Food Standard Agency

(FSA) stated it had been made aware

of the production and distribution of

counterfeit vodka labelled Glen’s

Vodka.

The counterfeit vodka might have

a dif erent smell and taste to genuine

vodka. Samples were found to

contain isopropyl alcohol – an

industrial solvent not intended for

human consumption, and which can

quickly lead to alcohol poisoning and

in severe cases, death.

The FSA said it had issued a food

alert for action notice to Local

Authorities.

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