Portman Building Society is to close nine of the 26 branches it identified last year as underperforming.

The affected branches are in Albrighton, Bewdley, Bloxwich, Cradley Heath, Oakengates, Perton, Tettenhall, Willenhall and Wombourne.

These sites will close on Saturday 28 April 2007.

Portman said it will make every effort to redeploy staff to other positions within the branch network

In April 2006, following an annual review of its branch network, Portman identified 26 branches in the West Midlands area which were being under-utilised and collectively operating at a loss.

Rather than close these branches with immediate effect, the Society decided to advise the local membership of the problem and ask for their support.

It therefore deferred a decision on possible closures until 2007.

The branches that will close have seen no material improvement in activity since its announcement in April 2006.

They have underperformed other branches in the network with smaller membership bases and remain commercially unviable.

Robert Sharpe, Portman’s chief executive, said: "The decision to close any branch is always taken as a last resort and we have tried to keep the number of sites affected to a minimum.

"We do appreciate the inconvenience and disappointment that our decision will cause those members who are actively using any of the branches concerned. We have a responsibility, however, to our membership as a whole and unprofitable branches directly impact upon our ability to provide the highly competitive products our customers have every right to expect.”

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