Communities bank on mobile provision

Royal Bank of Scotland bosses have, again, managed to provoke fury in rural Tayside and Fife with further cuts and changes to lifeline services. The bank, seeking to recover from its sweeping closure programme, stated mobile services would provide succour for communities stripped of their branches.

They are essential as the other much-vaunted option — internet banking — is unsuitable for many remote communities which suffer poor connection speeds.

Many people also want to put a face to the bank with which they trust their savings, mortgage and wages.

It is hardly surprising that customers — many still protesting against branch closures and ATM removals — are enraged about the prospect of fewer and shorter mobile van visits.

RBS is following a well-worn path laid down by other big banks over rural services.

Many account holders, especially in urban areas, will wonder what the fuss is about and take the view that banking, like other industries, must move with the digital times.

However, RBS will forever bear the shackles of being the bank “saved by the public” — a moral debt they will never pay off to taxpayers who expect more in return for the favour.

If that means making decisions which seem unpalatable to the bank’s management but fit customers’ needs, it is the price they must pay.