A public meeting is being planned in Wick later this month to look at how the town’s proposed banking hub will operate.
It is expected to take place in the week commencing January 27. The venue has still to be confirmed, although it is likely to be either the Assembly Rooms or the Pulteney Centre.
The hub is due to be up and running by June, when Wick’s last remaining bank – the Bank of Scotland branch in Bridge Street – is set to close.
The site has still to be selected, however.
Allan Farquhar, chairman of the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council, has been liaising with Cash Access UK about how the banking hub will work.
Cash Access UK is a not-for-profit company owned and funded by nine major banking providers. Banking hubs are owned by Cash Access UK and operated by the Post Office.
Mr Farquhar informed fellow community councillors this week about the intention to hold a public meeting in the town.
LINK, the cash access and ATM network, announced in June last year – in the aftermath of the Bank of Scotland closure announcement – that Wick will benefit from a new banking hub “as part of a wider commitment to protect access to cash”.
A spokeswoman confirmed this week that the public meeting will go ahead, with more details to be confirmed later.
She added: “The property search for a hub is still under way, with no new updates as of yet on the specific whereabouts this will be, and is on track to open 12 months from its announcement, as planned.”
Community bankers will take it in turns to visit the hub and members of the public will be able to pay in cash and cheques, withdraw cash, check their balance, pay utility bills and top up their gas and electricity.
A post office will be part of it and there will also be a cash machine, managed by LINK.
The Bank of Scotland in Bridge Street is due to shut in June this year, with bank bosses saying many customers are now using a mobile banking app or internet banking.
Over the past seven years Wick has lost its Royal Bank of Scotland, TSB and Clydesdale Bank branches as well as the short-lived Virgin Money. After the Bank of Scotland closes its doors, the nearest high street banking outlets will be 21 miles away in Thurso.
According to a document shared by Bank of Scotland, the number of customers using the Wick branch had dropped by 30 per cent since 2019, although cash machine transactions had gone up slightly.