Trade Union Unite have accused the Royal Bank of Scotland of a serious breach in banking protocols for branch closures and are urging bank executives to stop the closure programme and think again.
A call that is supported by Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Alex Rowley who says the bank has let down communities across the region and went back on promises. He said:
“When I met the bank officials to object to the closure of the Kelty branch, they told me we have access to a branch in Cowdenbeath and one in Kinross both within a few miles. Then they closed Cowdenbeath and now they are closing Kinross and their executives don’t seem to care what impact these closures are having on local communities and people’s ability to get into a bank”.
Banks have already closed in Aberdour, Cowdenbeath, Dalgety Bay, Inverkeithing, Kelty and Kirkcaldy.
Further branches are set to close in Kinross, Comrie, Aberfeldy, Pitlochry and Perth.
Unite point out that RBS spend more on sponsoring rugby than they will save on the latest round of closures of 62 branches across Scotland and say the bank made a profit of £900million in the third quarter of last year.
Mr Rowley said:
“In the last decade the tax payer paid out £45 billion to bail out the failed executives of RBS in the financial crisis. The taxpayer still owns the bank and yet the payback for its salvation is the proposed closure of one in three of its branches across Scotland. This is a betrayal of the people of Scotland”.
