The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
MSPs are urged to fight harder to stem closures
Plea for Scottish Government to set up retail bank
MSPs are giving up too easily on the fight against branch closures, says a union.
Unite has called on a Holyrood banking inquiry to focus on opposing the cuts rather than just mitigating their impact.
The economy committee, which starts hearing evidence today, has been taking suggestions on how to protect communities from the closures, including a plea for the Scottish Government to set up its own retail bank.
Lyn Turner, from Unite, said the committee seems to “accept the inevitability of these closures, rather than gathering information which might assist in opposing the closure programme”.
The Courier’s Save Our Banks campaign is fighting the branch closures by RBS and Bank of Scotland, which plan to shut down 62 and 49 respectively across the country. Ten of those are in Tayside and Fife.
A Business for Scotland submission to the economy committee backed the opening of a state-owned bank dedicated to maintaining a branch presence in communities in the face of “clear market failure”.
“A national retail bank owned and run by the Scottish Government is an interesting concept and could be vital in safeguarding business operation and even maintaining local communities from depopulation,” the submission said.
The numbers of branches in Scotland has been slashed by a third since 2010, even before this year’s planned closures are taken into account. Perthshire is one of the hardest hit parts of the country with RBS sites in Aberfeldy, Pitlochry, Perth South Street, Comrie and Kinross all marked for the chop. Attacking the argument that banking services can be performed in post offices, Blackford Community Council in Perthshire, said: “You can’t say bank closures are acceptable when there is an equivalent decline in the number of local post offices.”
Ross McEwan, the chief executive of RBS, who appears before MPs next month, insists there are “now more ways to do everyday banking than ever before”, including mobile branches and online.
A Scottish Parliament spokeswoman said: “The committee’s inquiry will begin taking hearing evidence later this week and will begin to explore what steps can be taken. It is due to report later this year.”
On the state retail bank proposal, a Scottish Government spokeswoman said ministers “continue to engage in constructive discussions with the banking sector”.
“We urge banks to listen carefully to the views of local communities and businesses and – particularly in cases where towns or rural communities could be left with no bank at all – to reconsider their planned closures,” the spokeswoman added.