A CALL has been made to establish a public bank in Wales in the aftermath of yet more branch closures in rural communities.

The move has come after NatWest announced it is to shut its High Street branch in Cardigan on May 30 as part of a string of closures throughout Wales totalling 20 branches.

A public meeting is to be held in Cardigan on January 18 to discuss the issue.

Barclays closed the last remaining high street bank in Llandysul at the end of last month, prompting comments that Llandysul was becoming a ‘ghost town’.

Now leading politicians Adam Price AM and Jonathan Edwards MP have taken the lead on calls for a public banking model.

Assembly Member Mr Price raised the issue at the National Assembly where he questioned the Welsh Government's Finance Secretary on a report by the Public Policy Institute for Wales into establishing a Welsh public bank.

Mr Price told the Minister that that five of the 10 areas that have faced the greatest number of branch closures are in Wales, and that 186 bank branches will have closed in Wales following the most recent announcements.

Mr Price said: "This report has now been sat on his desk gathering dust for months while our towns are stripped of their essential financial services.

"I specifically brought the question to the Assembly to give the Welsh Government the opportunity to tell us how it will act on that report. In response, however, the Labour Minister preferred to pass the buck to the post office and credit unions.

"This is not another issue that can be solved with a sticking plaster.”

At Westminster, Plaid's Treasury spokesperson Mr Edwards made a formal request to the Chair of Parliament's Treasury Select Committee to hold an inquiry into the extent of the financial exclusion that has been caused by the unprecedented rate of bank branch closures in recent years. Mr Edwards said it is the role to the Committee to hold the Treasury to account.

Mr Edwards said: "We must build a publicly-owned community banking system, not only to provide day-to-day banking services, but to provide the financial floor to underpin local economies.

"The UK Treasury admits it has a duty to ensure that everyone has access to the banking services they need. Yet it now sits back, allows banks to close branches at a rate of knots and treat rural communities with contempt.

"I believe the Treasury Select Committee should launch an inquiry to assess the access to retail financial services and the effect the branch closure programmes over a number of years have had on financial exclusion.”