HSBC has announced that it is closing one of its Croydon branches this year.

The banking company said today that a total of 27 sites across the country are set to close, with the site in Wellesley Road among them.

But in some good news, no jobs will be lost a result, HSBC told the PA news agency.

"Retaining a sustainable branch network is extremely important to us and we need to ensure it is fit for the future," Stuart Haire, HSBC UK's head of retail banking and wealth management, said.

"But, the way our customers bank with us has changed significantly over the last five to 10 years, and that change is something we cannot ignore,"

A total of 46 jobs across ten of the 27 stores are at risk as a result of the decision.

The staff at Wellesley Road will be moved to the nearby site in North End which will be refurbished in the first half of 2020.

Nearly 50 jobs are at risk at HSBC branches across the country, as the bank revealed plans to close 27 sites this year.

Mr Haire added: "Almost every industry is affected by similar behavioural change and needs to work hard to address that - newspapers used to be delivered by paper boys and girls, or a paper would be collected from a shop, and now most people consume their news online.

"Photographs that were once processed in a shop have now been replaced with digital cameras and online delivery."

HSBC said nine in 10 contacts with customers now happen over the phone, via the internet or on its smartphone app, with the number of customers who use a branch falling by a third in the last five years.

Only one in every 100 cash withdrawals are made in branch at an HSBC.

The Wellesley Road branch will shut for good on July 31.