A further 258 jobs will be lost as RBS close another 54 branches in England and Wales.

This is coming after 162 branch closures already being announced this year, leading to the loss of 792 jobs. These most recent 54 branches are due to close their doors in January 2019.

These closures are a result of a failed endeavour of the bank’s, to float off a new “challenger” bank called Williams & Glyn. Plans for this have since collapsed.

However the bank attempted to reassure its customers and employees by saying that there will be no further closures “until at least 2020”, giving people a whole extra year of job security.

A spokesperson for RBS has 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.”

The bank also delivered the promise that they would

“ensure compulsory redundancies are kept to an absolute minimum”.

 

Union Outrage

But the Unite union are outraged by these closures, calling them “disgusting”.

National Unite officer Rob MacGregor said:

“It is utterly disgusting that Royal Bank of Scotland has the audacity to announce that yet more important local bank branches will permanently close their doors.”

He has said that this only deepens the strain and misery bank closures have placed on local communities within England and Wales as they

“…have already seen the demise of local banking services”.

MacGregor has asserted that when the initial round of closures were announced the bank pointed to other local branches and insisted that they would still be open, but now those branches

“are suffering a similar fate”.

He has added that:

“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.”

Areas Affected

109 branches were closed in July and August and this was soon followed by these most recent of closure announcements, those that will have people made redundant by January 2019. 53 further branches are due to shut down in November.

After all of these closures, there will only be 54 Royal Bank of Scotland branches in England and Wales.

The spokesperson added that:

“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.”

  • By Eleanor Service, Editor-In-Chief
  • Sources: The BBC
Share this Post