Bank closure plan sparks plea for U-turn from MSP
A MEETING has been demanded with bosses from the Royal Bank of Scotland following news that the Helensburgh branch will close later this year.
And a petition protesting against the NatWest Group’s decision is set to be launched in town this weekend.
The banking giant announced on April 17 that the Helensburgh branch is one of 18 RBS sites across Scotland which will shut by September.
They confirmed that 105 employees would be affected by the decision to close a fifth of the country’s RBS branches.
The Colquhoun Square branch is set to close its doors for the final time on September 25. After that date, RBS customers in Helensburgh will have to travel to Dumbarton if they want to speak to staff, or carry out transactions, face-to-face.
The RBS closure will also leave Helensburgh with just one remaining bank branch, the Bank of Scotland on the north side of
Colquhoun Square - though the Bank of Scotland’s owners, the Lloyds Banking Group, is already set on closing its only other branch in the local area, in Kilcreggan, this August.
The petition has already gone live online, but will be formally launched by members of the Helensburgh Business Group during the Market in the Square event in Colquhoun Square this Saturday, April 27.
Local MSP Jackie Baillie said: “I am dismayed by Natwest’s decision to close Helensburgh’s longstanding branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
“I understand that more customers are switching to digital banking but not everyone is able to use these services and there are many members of our communities who, for a variety of reasons, still need in-branch services.
“I have written to the Royal Bank of Scotland seeking a meeting and demanding that they review this decision.
“It is not acceptable for banks sitting on large profits to continue to axe services customers need, especially in the case of RBS, which has benefitted significantly from public funds.”
The organisation added that redundancies would be on a voluntary basis and that there would be no further closures across its network until 2026.
RBS currently employs around 10,000 people in Scotland.
The bank’s spokesperson said: “Our customers are using digital banking more than ever before over 80 per cent of our active current account holders now use our digital services and over 97 per cent of retail accounts with us are now opened online.
“While we are increasingly engaging our customers digitally, our branch network remains important to us.
“We commit to no further review of our Royal Bank of Scotland branch network until at least 2026.”
Helensburgh Central councillor Fiona Howard, who is also a member of the Helensburgh Business Group, added: “I am appalled by the latest move and find it hard to believe that the Helensburgh branch is not busy enough to stay open considering the size of the catchment area it is serving.
“I believe this is just one more step towards forcing us all to stop using cash with all the horrific implications of that.
“I will be writing to the bank’s bosses but I would urge everyone else to do that same. It is time to fight back.”
Anyone who wants to contact the RBS directly to share their views can do so by emailing the Natwest Group’s public policy manager, Ms Dami Oluwa, on dami.oluwa@natwest.com.
The petition can be viewed and signed online at tinyurl.com/rbshelensburghpetition.