Bank closure areas hit by slow internet

Fears poor broadband speeds will hamper online banking

Super-slow broadband speeds are blighting many of the areas that could be badly affected by the Royal Bank of Scotland’s decision to close local branches.

RBS bosses announced last week they are shutting 62 branches across Scotland, with the loss of nearly 160 jobs.

They said the decision was based on customers numbers dropping by almost 50% since 2012 and they said internet banking had soared by 73%.

However, figures obtained by The Courier show broadband connection speeds in local areas affected by the bank closures fall well below the UK average.

Download speeds at Aberfeldy, Comrie, Kinross and Pitlochry are among Britain’s bottom 20%, while only 0.4% of the people in Aberfeldy and Pitlochry have access to superfast speeds, compared to a national average of 40.8%.

Dunblane, where the local branch is also earmarked for closure, fares better with 33.2%, but still has a below average download speed.

Tracie Hall, who runs the Calluna Cafe at Pitlochry, said: “This is going to be a real loss to the community.

“As a business, we need somewhere to take our money at the end of the day. We’ve been told to go to the post office but, to me, that’s not ideal.”

She added: “Pitlochry is such a touristy area and I know a lot of visitors use the branch to change their money.

“Now – and because they’re closing Aberfeldy too – everyone has to go into Perth to do their banking. Personally, I don’t have issues with broadband speeds because I signed up to the HPCP (Highland Perthshire Communities Partnership) wireless system, but other people could be badly affected.”

With an anticipated increase in internet banking after the news of RBS branch closures, it has emerged Angus is lower than the national average for internet connectivity.

While the availability of superfast broadband is 78.1%, the percentage of connections receiving superfast speeds – greater than 30Mb per second – is only 26.3%. This is considerably lower than the national average of 40.8%.

The availability is also below the national average of 88. The average download speed, at 22.2Mb per second, is also below the national average of 37.8.

SNP Montrose Councillor Bill Duff said: “I was shocked by the news to close the Montrose branch. I bank with RBS and I am in there about once a week and it always seems to be busy.

“I think given that the Government own about 71% of bank that there should be some pressure put on them to keep it open.”

Picture: Kim Cessford. The Montrose RBS branch, one of those earmarked for closure by the bank.