Barclays is to offer a "video banking" service that allows customers to have a "face-to-face" conversation with an adviser via their smartphone, tablet or computer, wherever they are in the world, whatever the time of day. The bank said the move was "a UK banking first". The service will be rolled out from 8 December, with Barclays claiming it represented "a watershed moment for the way people do their banking in the UK". However, while some will see this as a welcome glimpse of the future of banking, others may fear it is a precursor to more branch closures. In the first nine months of this year Barclays closed 54 branches, although it opened nine during the same period. Other banks are also shutting branches; in October, Lloyds Banking Group revealed plans to close 200 as it "digitises" its business. The move is also an admission that while millions of people do most, if not all, of their banking online or via their smartphone, there are times when only a face-to-face chat with a real person will do.