Thirty-three constituencies, including two in London, will not have a single bank branch by the end of the year, says Which?

The number of UK bank branches that have shut their doors for good over the last nine years will pass 6,000 on Friday, and by the end of the year the pace of closures may leave 33 parliamentary constituencies – including two in London – without a single branch.

The tally is being published by the consumer group Which? as it seeks to make the “avalanche” of closures and the “disastrous” impact they can have on local communities an election battleground.

Barnsley East (estimated population: 94,000)

Bolton West (98,000)

Bradford South (106,000)

Bury South (103,000)

Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (102,000)

Chatham and Aylesford (103,000)

Clwyd South (70,000)

Colne Valley (112,000)

Dagenham and Rainham (117,000)

Denton and Reddish (88,000)

Don Valley (99,000)

East Worthing and Shoreham (99,000)

Erith and Thamesmead (117,000)

Glasgow North East (88,000)

Liverpool, West Derby (94,000)

Mid Bedfordshire (121,000)

Mid Derbyshire (83,000)

Newport East (84,000)

North East Derbyshire (92,000)

Nottingham East (98,000)

Penistone and Stocksbridge (89,000)

Plymouth Moor View (94,000)

Reading West (112,000)

Rhondda (68,000)

Sedgefield (85,000)

Sheffield Hallam (85,000)

St Helens North (100,000)

Stone (86,000)

Swansea East (81,000)

Warrington North (95,000)

Wentworth and Dearne (100,000)

Wirral West (68,000)

York Outer (92,000)

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Barclays Bank, HSBC and TSB reveal reductions, reversing some of price rises seen in recent weeks

Three UK banks have announced cuts to the cost of fixed-rate mortgages, reversing some of the price rises seen in recent weeks.

Barclays Bank has announced it will reduce the price of five-year fixed-rate deals for new borrowers and remortgagers by up to 0.45 percentage points from Friday. Its five-year fixed-rate for borrowers with a 40% deposit is decreasing from 4.47% to 4.34%.

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Banks may follow suit after UK weather-related claims on home insurance reach new high

Britain’s biggest building society has stopped granting mortgages on some properties where there is a high risk of flooding but said this affected only “a very limited number” of homes.

Nationwide’s head of property risk, Rob Stevens, said the lender used mapping technology to identify which homes were vulnerable to flooding, and it would decline to grant a mortgage to buy a property it deemed to be at high risk.

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Credit card holders who make minimum repayments warned they could be in debt for years longer

Some Barclaycard customers who only make the minimum repayment each month will take an extra decade to clear their debt and pay hundreds of pounds in extra interest after the credit card provider changed its terms.

Barclaycard – thought to be the UK’s biggest credit card provider – has written to customers telling them it is cutting their minimum payments to give them “more flexibility”.

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Pre-tax profits drop to £2.3bn between January and March, down from £2.6bn last year

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Profits at Barclays tumbled 12% in the first quarter, as higher UK interest rates weighed on demand for mortgages and loans and its investment bank was hit by a backdrop of economic uncertainty.

The UK bank said pre-tax profits fell to £2.3bn in the first quarter, down from £2.6bn last year, when it reported the strongest quarterly profit since 2011 after a string of interest rate hikes by the Bank of England.

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NS&I’s new product offers up to 4.15% – but some experts dismiss it as just ‘a fancy bit of marketing’

The UK government’s savings bank, NS&I, this week unveiled its new “British savings bonds”. The three-year, fixed-rate accounts pay up to 4.15% interest, but analysts say there are others out there offering better rates.

That said, some people will like the fact that, as with all NS&I savings, “your money will be 100% secure, backed by HM Treasury”. And those, who for whatever reason, have a very large sum – such as from a house sale or an inheritance – and need to stash it away for a time, may be drawn to another feature: being able to invest up to £1m in each bond.

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The fuss over an outlawed commercial threatens to obscure the fact that the industry is reaping record profits for a poorer service

It’s been quite the year for Hollywood’s humanitarians. Olivia Colman took on pension funds for their role in fossil fuel expansion, Game of Thrones stars Kit Harington and Rose Leslie challenged high street banks’ role in the same polluting activities, and actor Dominic West starred in a Nationwide advert calling out the banks for their sweeping branch closures.

All shared the same satirical tone, but only one received so many complaints it was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The complaints, most notably from Nationwide’s rival Santander, were that the Nationwide ad was misleading in stating that: “Unlike the big banks, we’re not closing our branches” – which holds true only until 2028.

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ING, Allied Irish Banks and two Chinese banks are expected to agree extension on £190m loan

The Dutch bank ING and two Chinese state-owned lenders could play a crucial role in deciding the fate of beleaguered Thames Water, it has emerged.

The banks are expected to agree an extension on a £190m loan to the parent company of Britain’s biggest water supplier, which is due to be repaid at the end of this month.

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With just days to go it’s best to act now, do your homework and don’t panic

Don’t delay

The end of the tax year on 5 April is rapidly approaching, and, with it, the deadline to use this year’s £20,000 Isa allowance.

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