SNP demands UK government block any more bank closures

SNP MSP Kate Forbes has demanded that the UK government takes action to prevent the closures of 62 Royal Bank of Scotland branches across Scotland which threaten to leave customers cut adrift from local bank services – ahead of leading a debate on the plans at Holyrood today.

The closures have been branded a “betrayal” of RBS’s loyal customers, less than a decade after a taxpayer-funded bailout of the bank, with taxpayers still holding a 73 per cent stake.

The plans are set to have a damaging impact on people across the country – particularly older and vulnerable customers who depend on staff and services in their local branches and don’t have the luxury of accessing services online, Forbes has said.

Edinburgh-based RBS has said the decision to close one-third of its branches in Scotland reflected the trend towards online banking, citing data that showed the use of its branches by customers had fallen 40 per cent since 2014.

However, the MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch warned that the closures will potentially force people to travel over an hour to their nearest branch – and has criticised RBS and others for “almost abandoning” rural communities in recent years despite previously pledging to stay open if they were the last bank in town. Ms Forbes has also demanded the UK government places a moratorium on any more closures by the state-owned bank before even more communities lose out.

Commenting ahead of the Holyrood debate, Forbes said: “RBS is 73 per cent owned by the UK taxpayer and yet it seems to have taken no account of the public interest in these closures.

“Taxpayers in towns and villages across Scotland helped save RBS and they deserve a much better return on their investment. The closure plans are a betrayal to the loyal customers and communities that banks such as RBS are meant to be there to serve.

“The impact on rural communities, and older and vulnerable customers, has the potential to be devastating – banks have almost abandoned these loyal and dependent customers in recent years.

“RBS pledged to stay open if they were the last bank in town – yet this pledge was unceremoniously scrapped in an earlier round of bank closures and RBS continues to sell communities short, with several of the 62 marked for closure being the last banks in their towns.

“For people to have to travel as long as an hour to access their local banking services is simply not good enough – the Tory government must step in and halt these closure plans immediately. If RBS won’t reverse these plans, then the UK government must do it for them.

“But they must also go further and place a moratorium on any further bank closure plans by RBS – this is a bank owned by the people, and if this government even remotely cares about protecting services they will step in and prevent customers being left high and dry.”