BOSS of the taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Ross McEwan has again defended the closure of 52 of its branches, telling MPs that as a business “we are proud of our Scottish heritage”.
In a letter to Pete Wishart, the SNP chair of Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee, the bank’s chief executive said it had been “serving our Scottish customers with pride for nearly 300 years”.
Wishart had written to McEwan seeking further clarification of a letter he had written following his appearance before MPs to explain the closure programme.
McEwan said the range and breadth of services available today were greatly improved on what had gone before, and RBS was proactively helping customers to make the most of this choice and to choose the best ways to bank for them and their banking needs.
He said that only 1% of customers were using their bank branches as a first point of call and branch usage continued to fall dramatically.
Outlining other action RBS had taken, McEwan said: “We do not take any decision lightly and have thought about each decision; looking closely at customer behaviour and the other options that we can offer locally before coming to our decision.
“We have ensured that each of the branches scheduled for closure is staying open for six months, rather than the 12-week industry standard, to help customers prepare for the changes.”
He added: “Closing a branch is not an easy decision to make but changes in customer behaviour and the way our customers are banking with us means that we must respond.”
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