One of Britain's largest building societies has announced it is to close branches and rebrand two of its mutual societies as part of an overhaul.

Yorkshire Building Society (YBS) Group said it would be rebranding Barnsley Building Society and Chelsea Building Society under its own name. The move will see 22 of the group's 230 branches close, including six Barnsley and seven Chelsea branches. YBS said 13 jobs were at risk, but most staff would be redeployed. The group merged with Barnsley Building society in 2008 and Chelsea Building Society in 2010.

'More efficient'

The Barnsley branches marked for closure are in Cudworth, Doncaster, Mexborough, Rotherham, Wakefield and Wombwell, while the Chelsea Branches include Croydon, London Kings Road, Exeter, Ipswich, Leicester, Southampton and Westminster. The branches that remain open will be rebranded as Yorkshire Building Society. Nine Yorkshire branches will also shut. A YBS spokeswoman said the closures largely fall where branches were less than a mile apart, and would happen between April and September.....Read more here