A banking giant has been accused of letting down the residents of a Renfrewshire town as it prepares to axe one of its branches.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced it’s planning to pull down the shutters on its branch in Johnstone later this year.
The Church Street venue is earmarked for closure on Tuesday, August 15 – making it the third banking company to give up its presence in the area in recent years.
Johnstone residents will then only have access to one bank in the town – Bank of Scotland in High Street.
RBS customers will have to travel nearly five miles to the Paisley chief office in Moncrieff Street if they want to bank with them in person.
Councillor Andy Doig has written to RBS management expressing his “extreme disappointment and anger over the closure”.
The Johnstone North, Kilbarchan, Howwood and Lochwinnoch councillor also suggested the public starts considering leaving the banking giants.
He said: “After August this year there will be only one bank left in Johnstone town centre – that is a shocking indictment of the failure of banks like RBS, who have now put up a wall of digital exclusion. It is simply not good enough.
“The High Street banking sector are letting the public down. Perhaps we should all start opening Post Office accounts and support the credit unions more.”
RBS head honchos say the decision was arrived at after looking at the likely impact on customers; how often customers use the branch; the transactions they are making; and their banking preferences.
It has also taken into account where the nearest branch is and the closest cash machines are; whether there is a local post office for everyday banking; and all the other banking options including digital, mobile, telephone and video banking.
A guide explaining the decision said: “With the ease of mobile and digital banking fewer people are coming into the bank.
“This means we’ve had to make some tough choices about which can stay open. So, we want to make sure that we keep the branches people are using most.”
The firm’s data shows a decline in the number of people using the branch – with 55 per cent less counter transactions in 2022 than there were in 2019.
RBS say there are only two customers who use the branch on a weekly basis, with 151 business customers making use of the in-person service.
Meanwhile, also in 2022, 67 per cent of personal customers using the branch also chose to use digital banking or their mobile app. All staff will be kept on and sent to work at another location.
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