RBS Plans To Close 162 Branches In England And Wales; Cut 792 Jobs

(RTTNews) - Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. (RBS, RBS.L) said on Tuesday that it plans to close 162 branches in England and Wales, as it prepares to reintegrate its Williams & Glyn business into its core bank.

The bank said that there will be no changes to the NatWest retail banking business in Scotland. As a result of this process, around 792 roles will be made redundant, and employees will be supported with the option to leave on a voluntary basis.

Some 109 branches will close in late July and August 2018, while a further 53 branches will close in November 2018.

Royal Bank of Scotland in England & Wales and NatWest retail banking business in Scotland was due to be divested and launched as a separate 'challenger bank', under the brand name, Williams & Glyn. Although part of the RBS Group, this network operated with a different strategy and with different choices for customers, with the intention that it would become a completely separate bank. The divestment is now not going ahead and so the Williams & Glyn business, including its branch network, are being reintegrated back into the core bank, RBS said.

An RBS spokesperson said: "We are no longer launching Williams & Glyn as a challenger bank, and we now have two branch networks operating in close proximity to each other; NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland, in England & Wales. As a result we have had to review our overall branch footprint in England and Wales and we've made the difficult decision to close a number of Royal Bank of Scotland branches. Customers of Royal Bank of Scotland in England & Wales will be able to use NatWest branches instead for their everyday banking needs.