Shared bank branch venture raises almost £1.3 million in bid to go nationwide

A business venture that aims to plug the gap left by thousands of bank branch closures has hit its target of raising £1.25 million after an oversubscribed crowdfunder.

OneBanx, the shared branch banking innovator, said it had closed its fund raise on Crowdcube having raised £1.28m. Having demonstrated that its shared branch concept works with three pilots in central Scotland, the venture is now embarking on the next phase of plans to create a national network of kiosks. The aim is to have no community in the UK left without access to cash or everyday banking services such as deposits and bill payments.

OneBanx, which has been running pilot branches in Kilwinning, Denny and Lochgelly, has already opened an “access to cash kiosk” in partnership with TSB at a shopping centre in Nottingham and will shortly be unveiling two community kiosks with Newcastle Building Society. Bosses said they wanted to mobilise communities “up and down the country” to demand that the banks which have collectively closed more than 5,000 branches since 2015 now club together to fund a kiosk in their area.

Duncan Cockburn, founder and chief executive of OneBanx said: “We have had amazing support from our existing shareholders, but as a business rooted in serving communities, we wanted to extend our shareholder base to include more communities and partners with a real stake in our business as we expand and grow. Now that there are ten high street banks committed to funding shared infrastructure and thousands of kiosks or similar needed across the UK, there is a real opportunity here to make a difference for customers.”