Sky News has learned that lenders including Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest Group have agreed to fund the joint provision of cash services in communities which face being left without them
The criteria used to make the assessment would include a location's population density and its level of economic activity.
LINK is to be handed £4m in start-up funding by the banks, which also include HSBC and Santander UK, to get the project off the ground, the insider added. This week, the consumer group Which? demanded an immediate moratorium on further branch closures, citing analysis suggesting that banks"may be rushing to close branches before solutions to protecting access to cash can take effect".
Which? also said that a summary of such assessments should be made public, with banks forced to pause their branch closure programmes until legislation to preserve access to cash has been implemented.