‘An irreversible erosion of high street banking’
SEFTON Central MP Bill Esterson has raised concerns that high street banking is being irreversibly eroded after The Royal Bank of Scotland announced that its Maghull and Formby branches would close.
The MP said the closures would further reduce access fot customers to face to face banking services, which he said were still very much needed by many, particularly the elderly and those without access to the internet.
RBS announced the closure of 54 branches in England and Wales, with the loss of 258 jobs.
The Maghull branch will close on January 21 next year and the Formby branch on January 23.
The MP said it was vital for the bank to properly communicate with their customers about alternative provision they can use.
Mr Esterson, who is also a shadow business minister, said: “This is bad news for RBS customers and the high street, and further erodes the basic banking infrastructure of the country.
“The fact that two branches are closing in my constituency is a particular blow and shows no thought is being given by RBS to the impact on local communities and businesses.
“I can’t help but wonder if this is because I have been outspoken about the way RBS treated its small business customers over the years.
“I am concerned about the irreversible erosion of high street banking and I would like to see more consultation carried out before bank branches are closed.
“RBS is part-owned by the taxpayer so there could and should be a public service element to the business, which is now making significant profits after struggling for years after the banking crisis.
“Many people still do all their banking in a branch. Lots of people do not have access to the internet. This will be very distressing for a number of people who may not find it easy to do their banking in other ways.
“And many smaller businesses need their local bank branch because they have to deposit cash takings.
“Asking businesses in Maghull to go to Aintree and businesses in Formby to go to Crosby shows that RBS have no idea of the damage they are doing to local firms.
“As a publicly owned bank, they really should be putting the community and local economy at the heart of their decision making. They clearly are not, judging by this decision.”
RBS said the branch network “will now be stable” until at least 2020.
The nearest Royal Bank of Scotland branches are in Ormskirk, Southport and Liverpool city centre.
A spokesman for RBS said: “Since 2012 we have seen the way in which people use Maghull and Formby branches change, with 71% of customers in Maghull and 74% of customers in Formby already banking in other ways locally.
“Transactions at Maghull have reduced by 52% since 2012 with only 23 customers now visiting the branch on a regular weekly basis.
“Transactions at Formby have reduced by 39% since 2012 with only 51 customers now visiting the branch on a regular weekly basis.
“We are communicating with our customers affected by the closures and proactively contacting vulnerable customers and regular branch users.
“As customers change the way they bank with us, we must change the way that we serve them and this means that some branches will have to close.”
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