Rural areas have borne the brunt of more than 600 bank branch closures over the past year.

Parts of south-west England, Scotland and Wales lost the most branches per head of population in the 12 months to April 2016.

Over the past year, the most branches were closed by the RBS Group (166), including NatWest; followed by HSBC (146).

Other banks which closed branches were Barclays; Santander; the Lloyds Group, including Halifax and Bank of Scotland; and the Co-operative Bank.

The figures were obtained by the BBC Breakfast programme.

Britain's High Street banks are represented by the British Banker's Association (BBA).

BBA chief executive Anthony Browne said more people were adopting digital services to manage our money without having to travel to a branch.

"Banking is in the midst of a customer-led revolution," he said.

"It is important, however, that customers still have access to banking services if a local bank branch closes for commercial reasons."

An industry protocol on branch closures had played an important role in ensuring that communities could access alternative ways to bank, said Mr Browne.

The association was look forward to working with Professor Russel Griggs who is reviewing how the protocol is working in practice and whether it can be improved.

Professor Griggs said: "It's vital that the protocol meets its aim of minimising the impact of bank branch closures on customers and local communities.

"This review will not only be looking at how the processes behind the protocol are working in practice, but also crucially the outcomes that they are delivering."

Last autumn, a report by the Campaign for Community Banking highlighted what it described as an accelerating rate of bank branch closures.

The campaign is a coalition of national organisations concerned about bank branch closures, community sustainability, financial exclusion and carbon emissions.