RBS chiefs ignore pleas over closures
RBS bosses yesterday ignored desperate pleas to reconsider branch closures during a fiery grilling by shareholders.
Chairman Howard Davies and chief executive Ross McEwan were quizzed at the bank’s AGM – with an irate Mr Davies cutting people off and refusing to answer.
Outside the meeting – at the RBS Conference Centre in Edinburgh – union protesters loudly condemned the closures and plans for job cuts.
Shareholder James Caldwell called for more transparency from the bank and asked the board to review closure plans.
He said the manager at his local RBS branch, in Troon, Ayrshire, told him staff learned of its closure only a day before it was announced to the Press.
He said: ‘This is a lack of consideration on the part of the bank not to engage with their customers and staff.’ The bank had planned to close 62 Scots branches but bosses announced a reprieve for ten of them after working with politicians and Westminster’s Scottish affairs committee (SAC). Many have already closed.
When Mr Caldwell asked the board to reconsider its plans, Mr Davies replied: ‘We did decide to leave branches open and carry out an independent review as to whether they had gained business such as to make them viable and useful outlets.
‘That process will take place between now and the end of the year, and then we’ll make a decision on the remaining branches.’
When Mr Caldwell tried to ask another question, Mr Davies cut him off, saying: ‘No, no, you can’t actually.’
This set the tone for the rest of the 90-minute question-andanswer session, as shareholders made clear their anger and disapproval.
Gavin Palmer ended up in a full-blown argument with Mr Davies over the Global Restructuring Group scandal and accused the bank of ‘sticking their head in the grass’.
Mr Davies retorted: ‘It’s sticking your head in the sand, maybe you should Google it.’
Mary Alexander asked the board to ‘listen to communities protesting across Scotland and call a halt to the bank closure programme’.
Mr McEwan replied that there had been ‘dramatic’ changes in the way people banked, saying that ‘having bricks and mortar in a world that’s going more digital will actually be a problem’.
Mr Davies closed the meeting amid the shouts of furious shareholders.
Last night, Nationalist MP Pete Wishart, chairman of the SAC, said: ‘It should come as no great surprise that the RBS AGM was littered with anger, acrimony and frustration.
‘This is a company pursuing an unpopular and devastating programme of branch closures that will detrimentally impact on communities. These concerns have been contemptuously overlooked and ignored.
‘The UK Government remains by far the largest shareholder and my committee’s report said the Government must use all and any influence it has to reverse these closures.’
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