Branch-use figures were not fiddled over closures, insist banks

Bank chiefs have hit back at claims that they were “selective” with the figures over branch use to justify widespread closures to the network across Scotland.

RBS, Lloyds and Clydesdale chiefs will be among those appearing before MSPS today and have set out a range of criteria used to assess which branches are axed, including footfall, transactions carried out and regularity of visits. Local communities groups have branded the consultation exercise a “disgrace” and raised questions over the figures used to justify closures.

But Hollie Voyce, head of public affairs, personal and business banking, at Royal Bank of Scotland, insisted a fair process had been followed. “It is not true that we are selective in our figures – we count every customer who uses any branch,” she said in a submission to MSPS.

“Our decisions are based on a wide range of information, over an extended period of time – no one measure is a deciding or determinable factor.”

And she added: “When we look at our customer behaviour, the evidence is stark: branch usage has fallen dramatically and continues to do so.

“This is because the great majority of our customers want to bank when and where it suits them. They are not using the branch as their first point of call and today, only 1 per cent of our customers are using a branch on a regular, weekly basis.”

Hundreds of bank branches have been closed by all the main lenders in recent years, with the number in Scotland down by a third. RBS has faced intense criticism over its most recent raft of closures which will see 62 branches disappear.

Robin Bulloch, managing director of Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland, will be among those appearing before MSPS on Holyrood’s economy committee today and insisted a “wide range of measures” is looked at before any branch is closed.

He added: “We visit every locality where we are considering a branch closure.

“Our staff visit the branch proposed for closure, walk the streets around it, assess the public transport and look at the options for vulnerable customers, travel to the next nearest branch and visit the other banking options including local Post Offices.”

The banking chiefs will be giving evidence before Holyrood’s economy committee as part of an inquiry into bank closures.

Local community leaders in Edinburgh have previously labelled the consultation process ahead of bank closures as an “absolute disgrace”.

Allister Mackillop, chairman of Currie Community Council, said it had just been a “tick-box exercise”.