Lloyds Banking Group has announced that 44 branches of Lloyds and Halifax branches across England and Wales will shut.

Among the branches listed is the Lloyds Bank at Finchley Lane in Hendon and the Halifax at Darkes Lane in Potters Bar.

In total, Lloyds said 29 Lloyds Bank and 15 Halifax branches would close, adding that customers were carrying out “significantly” fewer transactions at these locations.

Vim Maru, retail director for Lloyds Banking Group, said: “We’ve also seen our digital banking customers grow by over four million in five years, to almost 18 million, of which 13.6 million also choose to be active app users.

“This means that, like many businesses on the high street, we must change for a future where branches will be used in a different way, and visited less often.

“We’ll continue to invest in our high street presence, as this week we’re opening a new concept Bank of Scotland branch in Edinburgh, the only bank to take up residence in the new St James Quarter.

“Importantly, we’ll continue to give our customers a choice in how they bank, with branches sitting alongside telephone banking, online and mobile banking, our video appointment services, our cashback through local shops programme, our participation in the industry BankHUB cash initiative and 11,500 post offices, at which our customers can bank and access cash.”

Lloyds said of the closures announced on Wednesday that more than a third are branches situated in or around cities and large towns with another branch “very close by”.

It added that across the group’s branches, transactions have fallen 10 per cent a year in the five years to March 2020, and significantly further in the year since.

Nine out of 10 customers have a branch within five miles of their home, it said.

Unite, a trade union, said the decision was a “bitter blow” to staff and customers and accused the bank of “walking away” from local communities.