Royal Bank of Scotland has earmarked 154 branches for closure this year – at least 5% of its branch network.
While customers have been told that their branches are going to be closed, the 81% taxpayer-owned bank has not made a formal announcement about the branch reduction programmes. RBS, which also has branches under the NatWest and Ulster Bank brands, reneged on its promise to keep the “last branch in town” open earlier this year. On Friday it refused to make any fresh commitment to its 2,000-strong branch network.
Ross McEwan, the chief executive, said 102 branches had already been shut. He has pledged to improve customer service and simplify the product range, ending teaser rates used by many rivals to win new customers.
He said that the bank did not have a formal branch reduction programme, and would not indicate how many outlets would be closed next year. His comments were delivered against a backdrop of a 30% reduction in the number of branch transactions as customers increasingly adopt internet technology.
Earlier this week Lloyds Banking Group caused controversy by announcing 200 branch closures – alongside 9,000 job cuts – over the coming three years. At the time the 24%-taxpayer owned bank had insisted it was closing branches at a slower pace than rivals. RBS made a pledge in 2011 not to shut branches where it was the last in town but in April it emerged that it had closed 44 branches, including 14 where it was the last branch in town.
The move by Lloyds to close 6% of its branches over three years sparked intervention by the business secretary, Vince Cable, who called on the banking industry to make more use of post offices, which can be used to conduct basic high-street bank transactions such as cash withdrawal and paying in cheques. The Post Office said that 300m cash withdrawals are made at its branches each year, with more than 95% of UK bank account customers able to access their accounts at its sites. The Post Office operates 11,500 branches and 2,500 ATMs, which it claims is the largest free cash withdrawal network in the UK.
