Royal Bank of Scotland set to close almost half of its branches

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced it will be closing almost half of its branches in England and Wales.

The firm will close an additional 54 branches, following the news earlier this year in May that the bank would close 162 branches.

Of the 162, 109 closed in July and August, with the remaining 53 anticipated to close in November this year.

With the closure of the recently-announced branches set for January 2019, it is expected that the firm will cut 258 jobs.

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“As we are no longer launching Williams & Glyn as a challenger bank we now have two branch networks operating in close proximity to each other in England and Wales - NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland,” stated a spokesperson for RBS.

“As a result we have reviewed our overall branch footprint in England and Wales and have made the difficult decision to close 54 Royal Bank of Scotland branches.”

“The bank promised to "ensure compulsory redundancies are kept to an absolute minimum”.

“Customers of Royal Bank of Scotland in England and Wales will be able to use NatWest branches and local post offices for their everyday banking needs.”