Edinburgh branches among latest RBS closures

The bank, which was bailed out by taxpayers at the height of the financial crisis in 2008 to the tune of £45 billion, said its latest round of closures will include its Fairmilehead, Colinton and Heriot-Watt University branches.

The closures, which are to be enacted later this year, also include Brechin in Angus, Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire and Ayton and Earlston in the Borders.

Bosses blamed the move on the growth of online and telephone banking and stressed that there were alternative ways for people in the area to continue to bank with them.

RBS said in Laurencekirk, the number of transactions had fallen by 24 per cent since 2011 – with only 40 customers using the branch on a regular weekly basis.

In Edinburgh, the Heriot-Watt branch has seen the number of transactions drop by 53 per cent since 2011, Fairmilehead by 15 per cent since 2011 and the Colinton branch by 17 per cent since 2011.

The Fairmilehead branch will close on October 16, the Colinton branch on November 2 and the Heriot-Watt branch on the November 9.

RBS has already announced 65 other branches will shut this year and has closed six branches in Edinburgh – South Gyle, Tollcross, Royal Infirmary, North Bridge, Balerno and Goldenacre – again due to “falling numbers of branch transactions”.

In May, the Bank of Scotland revealed it too was to close 13 branches nationwide, with Edinburgh the worst hit as the company axed Marchmont, Blackhall, Fairmilehead, St James, Holyrood, Murrayfield and Sighthill.

The latest RBS closures in Edinburgh will lead to one redundancy, with other employees re-deployed elsewhere within the group, the bank said.

RBS said it has reached agreements with some local post offices to allow customers access to banking services.

But politicians have reacted angrily to the closures, arguing that loyal customers and taxpayers, who funded the bank’s multi-billion-pound rescue package, deserved better.

Pentlands MSP Gordon Macdonald said closing branches was an “unusual way” to thank the people who “bailed them out” following the banking crisis.

“The public owns 79 per cent of RBS and the UK government ultimately owns this bank so therefore it should ensure it continues to serve the very taxpayers who came to their assistance,” he added.

ATMs located at Colinton and the Heriot-Watt University branch will be kept, but the Fairmilehead branch will shut entirely.

In Laurencekirk, local councillor Jean Dick echoed the sentiment in the capital.

She said: “I’m absolutely shocked, I really am – it’s the last bank in town.

“When I moved here 26 years ago there was a TSB, Clydesdale and the RBS. People will be very disappointed about this.”

She added it seemed “short-sighted” of the branch given that hundreds of homes are planned for Laurencekirk and the surrounding area.

She was echoed by fellow Mearns councillor George Carr, who said: “It’s a huge disappointment. It just means that people will have to go further afield for services and it’s another nail in the coffin for local infrastructure.”

A spokeswoman for RBS said the decision to close the three branches had been difficult, adding: “Our customers are increasingly using alternative ways to bank with us such as online and mobile banking.

“As a result, branch transactions have declined by around 36 per cent since 2010 whilst online and mobile transactions have grown by more than 300 per cent.”

The news came as it was also announced that more than 300 RBS branches will disappear from high streets in England and Wales, with the famous name to be replaced by the resurrected brand Williams & Glyn, which is being used by RBS meet EU conditions relating to its bailout that force it to devolve some of its business.

RBS chief executive Ross McEwan confirmed the move yesterday, while discussing the performance of NatWest, which is also owned by RBS.

He said: “You are already starting to see NatWest, particularly in England and Wales, taking prominence, because Williams & Glyn will take out the RBS brand on the high street today.

“So all the RBS branches will become Williams & Glyn as part of the IPO (Initial Public Offering). So you are starting to see Natwest – particularly in England and Wales emerge as a strong brand.”

Williams & Glyn was a high street bank which was taken over by RBS in 1980. Its history stretches back for 250 years, meaning this is more of a rebirth than the creation of a new business.