RBS to cut 162 branches and 792 jobs
Move comes days after taxpayer-owned bank announced 206% rise in profits
Royal Bank of Scotland is to close 162 branches across England and Wales, with the loss of almost 800 jobs, following a controversial review of its high street network.
While previous branch closures have been blamed on the rise of online banking, the latest move has been based on its decision not to sell its Williams & Glynn business.
RBS, which also owns NatWest, said by not creating the challenger bank, as it had once been required to do by regulators, it was removing geographical duplication in its branch network.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It means the bank, which is still majority owned by the taxpayer following the 2008 bailout, has announced a total of 569 branch closures in just over a year.
A spokesperson for the bank said RBS customers would be able to use NatWest branches in England and Wales for “everyday banking needs”
Yet the timing of announcement has been widely criticised, coming just days after RBS reported a 206% rise in profits to £792m in the first quarter of the year, The Independent reports.
Criticising the “shambolically poor management” of its Williams & Glyn business, the Unite union’s national officer, Rob MacGregor, questioned the move: “How does a taxpayer-funded institution spend £1.8bn on a failed IT project and in the next breath demolish the much needed local bank branches?”
It follows a further round of branch closures confirmed by Lloyds just a week before it announced a surge in UK profits – “attracting criticism from a business group which claimed it could easily afford to give its members better access to their money on the ground”, says Sky News.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
US economy still strong in final preelection report
Speed Read It grew at a solid 2.8% annual rate from July through September
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
At least 95 dead in Spain flash floods
Speed Read Torrential rainfall caused the country's worst flooding since 1996
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court allows purge of Virginia voter rolls
Speed Read Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) is purging some 1,600 people from state voter rolls days before the election
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Labour shortages: the ‘most urgent problem’ facing the UK economy right now
Speed Read Britain is currently in the grip of an ‘employment crisis’
By The Week Staff Published
-
Will the energy war hurt Europe more than Russia?
Speed Read European Commission proposes a total ban on Russian oil
By The Week Staff Published
-
Will Elon Musk manage to take over Twitter?
Speed Read The world’s richest man has launched a hostile takeover bid worth $43bn
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Shoppers urged not to buy into dodgy Black Friday deals
Speed Read Consumer watchdog says better prices can be had on most of the so-called bargain offers
By The Week Staff Published
-
Ryanair: readying for departure from London
Speed Read Plans to delist Ryanair from the London Stock Exchange could spell ‘another blow’ to the ‘dwindling’ London market
By The Week Staff Published
-
Out of fashion: Asos ‘curse’ has struck again
Speed Read Share price tumbles following the departure of CEO Nick Beighton
By The Week Staff Published
-
Universal Music’s blockbuster listing: don’t stop me now…
Speed Read Investors are betting heavily that the ‘boom in music streaming’, which has transformed Universal’s fortunes, ‘still has a long way to go’
By The Week Staff Published
-
EasyJet/Wizz: battle for air supremacy
Speed Read ‘Wizz’s cheeky takeover bid will have come as a blow to the corporate ego’
By The Week Staff Published