A building society is to axe branches at Waterloo and Mirfield as more people bank online.

More than 400 jobs are under threat following the announcement by Yorkshire Building Society Group that it plans to close 48 branches, including ones at Wakefield Road, Waterloo, and Huddersfield Road, Mirfield. The branch at Towngate, Wyke, near Bradford will also go.

The Bradford-based group will also axe its Norwich & Peterborough brand and close the N&P current accounts – affecting about 100,000 customers – to focus solely on mortgages and savings.

Yorkshire Building Society, which bought N&P in 2011, said 440 jobs were at risk as part of the overhaul, but that it hopes to redeploy some staff affected to other areas.

Chief executive Mike Regnier said: “The driving forces behind the proposed branch closures are shifts in market conditions and an increasing desire among customers to transact digitally rather than on the high street. We therefore no longer believe it is the right commercial position for us to continue to maintain these 48 branches across the N&P and Yorkshire network.”

The job losses are expected over the next 18 months.

Last year, Yorkshire closed 22 branches and axed the Barnsley Building Society and Chelsea Building Society names.

When the Mirfield branch closes there will be just one financial institution left in the town – Halifax bank. HSBC, Barclays and NatWest have all closed since 2011.