Closing 31 local bank branches will cost jobs

ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to close 162 branches across England and Wales - including five in Stockport with the loss of almost 800 jobs.

In total, 31 are to shut in Greater Manchester and Cheshire.

The lender, still 72 per cent owned by the taxpayer, said the move was linked to it not having to sell its Williams & Glyn business.

As a result, the group has branches in close proximity to each other and is seeking to reduce overlap.

The devastating blow comes only a few weeks after RBS revealed its plans to close its Manchester Spinningfields branch and move out of its flagship office.

The bank plans to shut the branch on Hardman Boulevard in Manchester city centre on July 3 and transfer staff to its St Ann Street branch.

In Stockport the five branches which will shut are in Bramhall, Cheadle Hulme, Cheadle, Heaton Chapel and in the town centre at Great Underbank.

RBS said its business in England and Wales and its Natwest business in Scotland were meant to form a new ‘challenger bank’.

However, that project was now not going ahead and the bank had reviewed its branch network.

An RBS spokesman said: “We are no longer launching Williams & Glyn as a challenger bank and we now have two branch networks operating in close proximity to each other; NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland in England and Wales.

“As a result we have had to review our overall branch footprint in England and Wales and we’ve made the difficult decision to close a number of Royal Bank of Scotland branches.

“Customers of Royal Bank of Scotland in England & Wales will be able to use NatWest branches instead for their everyday banking needs.”

It is understood 109 branches would close this summer - all of them currently in close proximity to another RBS or NatWest branch. The rest will go in November.