Anger as RBS targets mobile banks in new wave of cuts
Clients may get only a minute each
RBS bosses were accused of a ‘betrayal’ of taxpayers after it emerged that mobile banking services will be slashed despite branch closures.
Yesterday, it was revealed the bank will cut the length of time vans spend in towns in a bid to increase the number of locations visited.
The move sparked outrage as customers in some remote areas will have only 15 minutes a week in which they can visit a ‘branch’.
The revelation comes weeks after politicians criticised RBS chiefs when they announced plans to close 62 branches across Scotland.
They were forced into a partial U-turn, with the closure of ten branches now on hold – and said customers would still be able to carry out banking as mobile services would visit towns that are losing out. But it has since emerged that in some areas – including the Highlands and Fife – the amount of time they spend in some towns has been cut.
Mid Fife and Glenrothes Nationalist MSP Jenny Gilruth said: ‘This is appalltry. ing behaviour from RBS. Not only have they reduced the service to customers even further, they’ve done so by quietly changing the timetable as opposed to being straight with people.
‘It’s yet another betrayal of RBS customers in Fife and across the counIt’s time for RBS to be upfront with customers and communities. This kind of behaviour erodes trust in the bank. They ought to remember who saved the bank from going under a decade ago.’
In Kingussie, Inverness-shire, the stop for mobile banking vehicles is to be cut from 45 minutes to 20 minutes from May 21. The service in Boat of Garten will be cut from 30 minutes to 15.
In Helmsdale and Rogart in Sutherland and Latheronwheel in Caithness, services have been cut completely. In Leven, Fife, the mobile banking van has cut its weekly visit from four-and-a-half hours to two-and-a-half.
Joseph Taylor, former chairman of Kingussie Community Council, told the Press and Journal: ‘To cut it to 20 minutes a week is just appalling. I would bet they will have more than 20 people in Kingussie who bank with RBS and they could only give their customers a minute each.’
Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee played a key role in RBS’s decision to perform a partial U-turn on closures. It will question RBS chief executive Ross McEwan next month.
Rutherglen and Hamilton West Labour MP Ged Killen, who is on the committee, said: ‘RBS executives offered reassurances customers would be supported through the closure of 62 branches in Scotland, when they appeared before the committee in January. These words will now appear hollow to those communities which could be cut off as a result of the scaling back of the mobile bank van service.
‘This type of action is typical of the RBS approach to its customers. Throughout the rounds of bank closures, RBS has offered olive branches of support when put under pressure over concerns about reduced services, only for them to be snatched away once the dust has settled.’
Colin Borland of the Federation of Small Businesses said: ‘RBS looks again like it is trying to cut services customers find valuable. This move also seems to clash with evidence RBS chiefs gave to MPs in January, where they talked up investment in their mobile bank fleet.
‘It wouldn’t surprise me if MPs on the Scottish Affairs Committee will be keen to get to the bottom of this when they take evidence from Ross McEwan next month.’
Yesterday, RBS said it had launched 58 mobile branch stops in Scotland, meaning more than 440 communities would now have access to them every week.
A bank spokesman said: ‘These mobile branch routes can be a lifeline for communities that have never had access to a bank; some are taking on new stops where, unfortunately, an existing branch will be closing.
‘Staff will be on hand to demonstrate the services available through our mobile branches when the new routes start.
‘We welcome feedback on how these services are running and have already committed to reviewing these timetables on a monthly basis.’
‘Yet another betrayal’ ‘Those words now appear hollow’