NatWest reveals locations of 10 branch closures in region
RBS has revealed it is to close 259 branches and axe 680 jobs in a move it says will cut costs and encourage customers to use online and mobile services.
The move means 62 Royal Bank of Scotland and 197 NatWest branches will close
In the West Midlands, 10 NatWest branches will close.
They are:
– Bearwood
– Bilston
– Birmingham Broad Street
– Birmingham Frederick Street
– Birmingham National Exhibition Centre
– Bridgnorth
– Fordhouses, Wolverhampton
– Kingswinford
– Knowle
– Newport, Shropshire
The closure of the Broad Street facility had already been announced by the bank back in September.
It said then that the branch would close at the end of February and staff redeployed.
The bank said then that changes in the way customers accessed its services had meant the branch was now seeing low usage as the vast majority of customers looked to access their accounts online.
The explanation is one the bank has used to justify all its closures.
RBS said it would try to ensure compulsory redundancies were “kept to an absolute minimum”.
The bank said: “We realise this is difficult news for our colleagues and we are doing everything we can to support those affected.”
An RBS spokesperson told the BBC: “More and more of our customers are choosing to do their everyday banking online or on mobile.
“Since 2014 the number of customers using our branches across the UK has fallen by 40% and mobile transactions have increased by 73% over the same period. Over five million customers now use our mobile banking app and one in five only bank with us digitally.”
All of the RBS closures are in Scotland.
