The Union Street branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland is slated for closure, resulting in over 100 job cuts, as the company moves forward with its plan to shut down 18 local branches, constituting more than a fifth of the national total.
Owned by NatWest, the bank confirmed that 105 jobs would be affected by the closures. While job losses will be sought on a voluntary basis, the company assured it would extend support to impacted staff.
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A spokesperson reiterated that no other branches would face closure until at least 2026.
Regarding the increasing shift towards online banking, the spokesperson stated: “Our customers are using digital banking more than ever before – over 80% of our active current account holders now use our digital services and over 97% of retail accounts with us are now opened online.”
“While we are increasingly engaging our customers digitally, our branch network remains important to us. We commit to no further review of our Royal Bank of Scotland branch network until at least 2026.”
The Aberdeen branch is scheduled to shut down on October 9, with the New Deer branch closing prior on September 26.
Acknowledging that some individuals may still be hesitant about transitioning to digital banking, the spokesperson assured: “But we know that a small number of people are not yet comfortable with it, which is why we are proactively reaching out to support them with this transition, having made over 200,000 calls last year. We also have experts that they can speak to for support and guidance.”
