RBS accused of using ‘misleading’ figures to justify bank closures

Royal Bank of Scotland has used “misleading” figures to justify its planned closure of 62 branches across Scotland, the SNP’S Westminster leader claimed last night.

Ian Blackford claimed RBS had defended its decision by publishing the number of customers who visit the affected branches every week, rather than revealing the total number of transactions.

He also claimed the bank had downplayed the number of jobs at risk, saying that 1,446 people would be made redundant as a result of the closures.

Citing leaked figures in a House of Commons debate, Mr Blackford said it was “economical with the truth” for RBS to claim that its Kyle branch has just 51 customers, despite processing 25,000 transactions a year.

“Why don’t RBS come clean and tell us the number of transactions in all the threatened branches? It is a disgrace that RBS have not released the full figures,” he said. “In my own constituency, Mallaig has 1,001 customers with 10,098 transactions, Kyle has 2,436 customers with 25,000 transactions, Beauly has 3,439 customers with 29,000 transactions.”

Mr Blackford added: “The figure RBS issued in relation to job losses was 685 Uk-wide, however this only represents the full-time equivalent … The actual job losses are much higher, including many high quality, part-time jobs in rural areas with little prospect of redeployment.”