RBS to close another 54 branches, axe 258 jobs

Royal Bank of Scotland will close another 54 branches in January and axe 258 jobs following a review of its branch network in England and Wales, in a move that union Unite branded "utterly disgusting".

The bank said the vast majority of the impacted branches are in close proximity to either another RBS or NatWest branch. The latest closures come on top of the 162 branch closures announced in April, with RBS insisting that its branch network would now be stable until at least 2020.

The decision to close more branches was a result of the collapse of its plans to spin off its retail banking business as a challenger bank called Williams & Glyn.

An RBS spokesperson said: "As we are no longer launching Williams & Glyn as a challenger bank we now have two branch networks operating in close proximity to each other in England and Wales - NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland. As a result we have reviewed our overall branch footprint in England and Wales and have made the difficult decision to close 54 Royal Bank of Scotland branches.

"Customers of Royal Bank of Scotland in England and Wales will be able to use NatWest branches and local post offices for their everyday banking needs. We will now focus on investing in our Royal Bank network in England and Wales to make sure customers have a consistent range of products and services wherever they bank, be it Scotland, England or Wales."

RBS pointed out that customers' banking habits have changed "radically" over the last few years, with branch transactions across England and Wales down 30% as the number of customers using mobile banking increased 53% and the number of mobile transactions rose 74%.

Rob MacGregor, national officer at union Unite, said the decision was "utterly disgusting".

"This announcement heaps further misery on communities across England and Wales that have already seen the demise of local banking services as branches that were signposted by the bank earlier in 2018 as an alternative for customers whose branches were closing, now suffering a similar fate."

He said another 54 local communities will lose the vital local bank branch which many rely on.

"The disabled, elderly and many local businesses will today be deeply disappointed that their bank has chosen to withdraw from their community and no longer provide them with the access to banking services which we all deserve."

At 1250 BST, the shares were up 1.1% to 249.23p.