RBS to cut 200 more branch jobs

Royal Bank of Scotland reportedly plans to axe around 200 branch jobs in Scotland, southwest England and Wales, with the lender confirming cuts were being made but not the exact number.

The redundancies take 73% state-owned RBS's recent job cuts to more than 1,300 of its 12,000-strong branch workforce.

Such restructuring reflected a change in the way customers banked in recent years, the lender said, with a 43% decline in its branch counter transactions since 2010 and a simultaneous 400% surge in digital usage.

"Banking has changed significantly over the last few years and the way people want to interact with us is also changing," a RBS and Natwest spokesman said in a statement.

"We have to continually adapt to meet our customers' needs and to ensure we remain viable and relevant both now and in the future.

"We review our branch network regularly to make sure the services we provide are appropriate for each local community, based on customer usage and other ways to bank in the local area.

"Where we do have to make the difficult decision to close a branch we will always tell our staff and customers first."

RBS pointed out that not only does its current branch networks serve over 1850 communities every week across the UK, but that a recent tie-up with the Post Office would create an additional 11,500 banking points throughout the country.