The announcement that NatWest bank is to pull out of Cardigan has been met with dismay.

The bank announced on Thursday that it planned to shut 20 branches across Wales, including those at Cardigan and Lampeter, due to what it described as "radical changes" in the way people used its services and a steep decline in the number of customers visiting branches.

The Cardigan branch is due to close on May 30, 2018. The Lampeter branch will shut on June 12.

The bank’s figures show that the number of transactions taking place in the Cardigan branch has fallen 14 per cent during the past five years with just 58 customers now visiting the branch each week.

NatWest spokesman Gemma Collins told the Tivyside that 85 per cent of the bank’s Cardigan customer now banked “in other ways locally” – using computers or smart-phones.

“We are communicating with our customers affected by the closure and proactively contacting vulnerable customers and regular branch users,” said Ms Collins.

“We have extended the time between announcing our decision and the branch closure to six months; this has been done so that we can ensure our customers have enough time to consider the right banking options for them and to give us time to support them one-to-one during the transition.

“We know that not all of our customers are comfortable or familiar with using online or mobile banking, so we have created a new specialist taskforce of NatWest TechXperts who will be dedicated to supporting our customers with training and support with digital skills until the branch closes.

“We are following the Access to Banking Standard and we have made our decision after careful consideration of a wide range of factors including changes in customer usage of the branch over a long period of time; how often customers are using the branch and the types of transactions they undertake; the number of customers who only bank via the branch; and the other ways our customers can bank locally.

“We are committed to ensuring our customers and communities are able to continue accessing quality banking services.”

The announcement was described as “terrible news” by Ceredigion’s politicians.

“I am deeply disappointed at NatWest’s decision. It’s a significant blow not only to both rural towns, but to members of staff, their families, and the bank’s customers,” said Ceredigion MP Ben Lake.

“In this time of austerity communities across the county are losing banking services at a frightful pace: this most recent announcement follows the closure of other banks in Aberaeron, and towns such as Llandysul and Tregaron no longer have any bank branches at all.

“These commercial banks are abandoning rural communities across Ceredigion; less than a decade after taxpayers bailed them out at the height of the financial crisis, they are now threatening to undermine the financial underpinning of the local economy.”

AM Elin Jones said: “This is terrible news for both Lampeter and Cardigan.

“Banks are imposing buildings on our high streets - built originally as banks. Their withdrawal hits the high street visibly, as well as losing their vital service for the community.

“The banks caused this last decade’s recession and to add injury to insult, they are now abandoning our communities.

“I will be meeting with Natwest representatives this week, and I will be emphasising the point that even though technology is moving forward, and more people are banking online, we still need our high street banks, which are vital assets for our local businesses.”