220 AXED AS RBS SHUTTER 30 BRANCHES

Closures follow another £7bn of losses

ROYAL Bank of Scotland are to close one in six branches within six months, putting 221 jobs at risk.

Thirty branches will be shut north of the Border along with 128 of the group’s NatWest branches in the rest of the UK.

A total of 770 staff will be affected but 300 will be moved to other jobs.

An RBS spokesman said: “There are 221 staff working in branches affected in Scotland.

“We are doing everything we can to support them, including seeking re-deployment opportunities and ensuring that compulsory redundancies are kept to a minimum.”

The cutbacks follow yet more huge losses of about £7billion at the bank. It means RBS – bailed out by taxpayers during the 2008 financial crash – have racked up Anstruther, Banchory, Bishopbriggs, Blantyre, Buckie, Cowdenbeath, Cumnock, Cupar, Dalgety Bay, Denny, Forres, Girvan, Glasgow Alexandra Parade, Glasgow Anniesland, Glasgow Burnside, Glasgow Crosshill, Glasgow Govan, Grangemouth, Kilsyth, Kirkcaldy Central, Leven, Mauchline, Newton Mearns, Newton Stewart, Prestwick, Stenhousemuir, Stonehaven, Troon, Westhill, Whitburn losses of almost £60billion in the last nine years.

Bosses said the closures are due to a “dramatic shift” towards online and mobile banking.

But Andy Willox, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “We’re frustrated to see RBS show so little loyalty to our high streets.

“While more people might be doing online banking, that’s no good for cash-based businesses or for rural firms with poor broadband.”

Lyn Turner, of union Unite, said: “Banks have a duty to the wider community – and that is especially the case for banks such as RBS that have large taxpayer-owned shareholdings.

“Scotland’s financial sector is going through a jobs crisis. We’ve lost more than 20,000 posts since 2008.

“We again call on RBS and the Government to pause and reflect.”

The UK Government still own 79 per cent of the bank but take no say in its day-to-day running.

Following the closures there will be 151 RBS and 856 NatWest branches left.