UK Party Looks to Post Offices to Increase SMB Financial Services

As the number of community banks continues to drop in the United Kingdom, the Labour Party is searching for a solution in the form of post offices. In a recent report from BBC, the political party is suggesting the country transform as many as 3,600 post offices into banks in an effort to increase financial services for small businesses.

According to the consumer group Which?, Labour cited in the BBC article, nearly 13,000 bank branches have closed over the past three decades, with less than 7,600 still in operation. Less banks means less investment opportunities for small businesses.

"Finance is the central nervous system of the economy," Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said in the article. "It directs investment, deciding which businesses and projects get off the ground and which fail."

—Andrew Michaels, editorial associate