RBS to close 162 branches and axe 792 jobs
As a result, the bank has said 792 jobs will be lost, with staff offered voluntary redundancy.
An RBS spokesperson said: “We realise this is difficult news for our colleagues and we are doing everything we can to support those affected. We will ensure compulsory redundancies are kept to an absolute minimum.”
Why are branches closing?
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Hide AdRoyal Bank of Scotland in England & Wales and NatWest retail banking business in Scotland were due to be launched as a separate ‘challenger bank’, under the name Williams & Glyn. However, this is no longer going ahead.
The RBS spokesperson said: “We are no longer launching Williams & Glyn as a challenger bank, and we now have two branch networks operating in close proximity to each other; NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland, in England & Wales.
“As a result we have had to review our overall branch footprint in England and Wales and we’ve made the difficult decision to close a number of Royal Bank of Scotland branches.
“Customers of Royal Bank of Scotland in England & Wales will be able to use NatWest branches instead for their everyday banking needs.”
Changes in banking
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Hide AdRoyal Bank of Scotland said since 2014 branch transactions have been down by 30 per cent.
During the same period there has been a 53 per cent increase in the number of customers using mobile banking and mobile transactions have increased by 74 per cent.
What does this mean for customers?
We do not yet know which branches will be closing. However, the bank will be writing to customers of affected branches to highlight the alternative ways to bank in their area.
RBS has said that technology has been developed which means that customers of Royal Bank of Scotland can now use NatWest branches for their everyday banking, such as withdrawing cash, checking balances or paying in (and vice versa).
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