5th Sep 2018 12:36
LONDON (Alliance News) - Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC said Wednesday it is planning to close 54 RBS branches in England and Wales at the beginning of the next year, resulting in 258 redundancies.
The majority state-owned bank said it has conducted a review of its branch network in England and Wales and as a result will close some branches.
The FTSE 100-listed lender said the "vast majority" of branch closures "are in close proximity" to either another RBS or NatWest branch.
The review of its branch network took place as a "consequence" of the planned divestment of RBS branches in England and Wales to become a standalone "challenger bank" as Williams & Glyn no longer taking place.
RBS said the "size and shape" of its branch network "will be stable until at least 2020".
The bank said: "As we are no longer launching Williams & Glyn as a challenger bank we now have two branch networks operating in close proximity to each other in England and Wales – NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland. As a result we have reviewed our overall branch footprint in England and Wales and have made the difficult decision to close 54 Royal Bank of Scotland branches.
"Customers of Royal Bank of Scotland in England and Wales will be able to use NatWest branches and local post offices for their everyday banking needs. We will now focus on investing in our Royal Bank of Scotland network in England and Wales to make sure customers have a consistent range of products and services wherever they bank, be it Scotland, England or Wales."
Shares in RBS Group were up 0.8% Wednesday at 248.50 pence each.
Related Shares:
RBS.L