Aberdeen and Inverness RBS branches to close

Two flagship Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) branches in the north of Scotland are set to close.

Aberdeen’s St Nicholas Street and Inverness’s Eastgate shopping centre locations have been earmarked for closure by the Natwest Group.

The bank in New Deer will also shut, as well as the Inverness chief office on Harbour Road.

On the bank’s website, the closing date for the St Nicholas branch has been confirmed as October 9 while the New Deer site will shut on September 26.

No closing dates are provided for the Inverness branches, and it’s understood plans are afoot for a £2.5 million new flagship branch in the Eastgate Shopping Centre at Falcon Square.

‘More customers banking online than ever’

More than 100 jobs across the country are now at risk with 18 of 86 local branches closing.

An RBS spokesperson said they would be supporting those who are affected by the closures.

They also explained that people’s banking habits are changing, with 80% of active current account holders now banking online and more than 97% of retail accounts  opened over the internet.

“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,” the spokesperson said.

“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.

“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.”

Closure provides further blow to Aberdeen’s Union Street

News of the closures will come as bad news to those concerned with the health of the Granite Mile in particular.

RBS currently occupies a large pillared building on the corner of St Nicholas Street at Union Street.

Today’s RBS announcement follows the departure of Marks and Spencer which is moving to a bigger Union Square location next year.

Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, said the closure of the St Nicholas Street branch feels like another death knell for the city-centre.

He said: “Just months after the shutters went down on the Union Street Halifax branch, this is the latest in a grim litany of closures for Aberdeen.

“Footfall is again cited by RBS as a reason for getting rid of St Nicholas. But closing branches won’t entice people to use facilities any more in the city centre.

“I’m very sorry for the 100 employees who could soon be facing redundancy, and I am seeking assurances from RBS that the bank will redeploy as many of them as possible — bolstering other local branches instead of letting services slip further.”

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