RBS to shut more branches

[snooky]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...-fife-38170966

Anybody else think that RBS are using the online banking as a convenient excuse?

They closed a branch near me saying that walk-in customers were down 11%.
What about the rest? Did someone at a management meeting ask, "How can we pi$$ off 89% of our customers in one locality in one stroke?"

I find their partronising adverts galling now. "We're with you every day, We're the Royal Bank for Scotland" - eh, no you're not.

[CapitalGreen]

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...-fife-38170966

Anybody else think that RBS are using the online banking as a convenient excuse?

They closed a branch near me saying that walk-in customers were down 11%.
What about the rest? Did someone at a management meeting ask, "How can we pi$$ off 89% of our customers in one locality in one stroke?"

I find their partronising adverts galling now. "We're with you every day, We're the Royal Bank for Scotland" - eh, no you're not.

I think you have misinterpreted the use of percentages in this article.

[BroxburnHibee]

They recently closed the Broxburn branch so now it's either Newbridge or Livi. Pain in the a**.

[Speedy]

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...-fife-38170966

Anybody else think that RBS are using the online banking as a convenient excuse?

They closed a branch near me saying that walk-in customers were down 11%.
What about the rest? Did someone at a management meeting ask, "How can we pi$$ off 89% of our customers in one locality in one stroke?"

I find their partronising adverts galling now. "We're with you every day, We're the Royal Bank for Scotland" - eh, no you're not.

Cost cutting, simple as that really. Interest rate forecasts are low so with income hard to come by, costs will have to go.

I'm surprised the Chesser branch is being closed though because customers of the shandon branch were diverted there not so long ago.

[Scouse Hibee]

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...-fife-38170966

Anybody else think that RBS are using the online banking as a convenient excuse?

They closed a branch near me saying that walk-in customers were down 11%.
What about the rest? Did someone at a management meeting ask, "How can we pi$$ off 89% of our customers in one locality in one stroke?"

I find their partronising adverts galling now. "We're with you every day, We're the Royal Bank for Scotland" - eh, no you're not.

You have misunderstood the figures quoted.

[Jack]

Given the total shambles that RBS have been, even before the crash with a series of mega fines for shafting their customers, I'm surprised they have any customers left.

Last year the Bank of England thought they were crap and over the last 12 months they've ... errr ... not got any better!

I know a load of folk will say what about all the jobs but with the continued millions being lost on a monthly basis you really have to ask what's the point of keeping it going? Just give it to a bank that knows what they're doing.

[RyeSloan]

Bank branches are the same as post offices...victims of transformational change.

A large branch network used to be an asset...now it's largely just a large cost base losing money so I'm not surprised to see more branches go.

[hibsbollah]

RBS are in a downward spiral, the problem being that the aggressive acquisitions continued way beyond post 2008 when lessons were supposed to have been learnt. ABN/AMRO could be the final nail of the coffin.

[snooky]

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You have misunderstood the figures quoted.

It was the teller at my previous local branch that said they were closing the branch because walk-in customers were down by 11%.
If I'm misunderstanding her (or if she was misquoting), please explain what that figure actually means. Ta.

BTW, I wonder how many branches could they keep open if the didn't pay the fat cats the big bonuses?

[Speedy]

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It was the teller at my previous local branch that said they were closing the branch because walk-in customers were down by 11%.
If I'm misunderstanding her (or if she was misquoting), please explain what that figure actually means. Ta.

BTW, I wonder how many branches could they keep open if the didn't pay the fat cats the big bonuses?

It's that an 11% drop is a directional change (presumably 2016 compared to 2015) whereas you've linked that to 89% of customers use branches & 11% don't.

Edit: The point on bonuses also doesn't correlate. If a branch (or any other part of a business) is losing money it doesn't matter how many 'fat cat' bonuses would keep it open - why would you want to if it continues to generate a loss?

[johnbc70]

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RBS are in a downward spiral, the problem being that the aggressive acquisitions continued way beyond post 2008 when lessons were supposed to have been learnt. ABN/AMRO could be the final nail of the coffin.

Who did they buy post 2008?

[hibsbollah]

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Who did they buy post 2008?

The Williams and Glyn farce represents an acquisition? It certainly represents the kind of reckless behaviour that was supposed to be a thing of the past.

[snooky]

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It's that an 11% drop is a directional change (presumably 2016 compared to 2015) whereas you've linked that to 89% of customers use branches & 11% don't.

Edit: The point on bonuses also doesn't correlate. If a branch (or any other part of a business) is losing money it doesn't matter how many 'fat cat' bonuses would keep it open - why would you want to if it continues to generate a loss?

Why would you want to throw cash at one person as opposed to keeping open a branch that serves a community and provides jobs.
I suppose it depends on your point of view. FWIW, I know what my choice would be from 'bonus' or 'branch'.

[Andy74]

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The Williams and Glyn farce represents an acquisition? It certainly represents the kind of reckless behaviour that was supposed to be a thing of the past.

Actually this represents the fact that lots of people have an opinion without understanding what they are on about!

[CropleyWasGod]

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Why would you want to throw cash at one person as opposed to keeping open a branch that serves a community and provides jobs.
I suppose it depends on your point of view. FWIW, I know what my choice would be from 'bonus' or 'branch'.

If you were a shareholder (and you are, like it or not ), giving someone a bonus of £50k, say, for saving the company, say, £500k pa, would be a reasonable deal, no?

[hibsbollah]

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Actually this represents the fact that lots of people have an opinion without understanding what they are on about!

I am more familiar with it than I'd like to be, frankly. RBS are in a pickle.

[johnbc70]

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The Williams and Glyn farce represents an acquisition? It certainly represents the kind of reckless behaviour that was supposed to be a thing of the past.

Williams and Glyn are existing RBS England and Wales branches and NatWest Scotland branches. So absolutely no acquisition at all, they already owned them. As far as I know there has been no acquisitions since ABN.

[Speedy]

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The Williams and Glyn farce represents an acquisition? It certainly represents the kind of reckless behaviour that was supposed to be a thing of the past.

Williams and Glyn (and TSB in the case of Lloyds) is a mandated disposal.

I agree it's reckless but in this case it's not the banks' fault.

Incidentally, the amount wasted on W&G could have resolved the capital gap.

[Speedy]

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If you were a shareholder (and you are, like it or not ), giving someone a bonus of £50k, say, for saving the company, say, £500k pa, would be a reasonable deal, no?

Exactly.

It's funny because we (joe public) complain with our shareholder hat on when RBS make a loss but also complain with our customer hat on when they take cost saving measures.

[beensaidbefore]

As a straw poll, how many on here still use branches? I seldom do and only for paying in money for work which can't be banked any other way.

The days of needing one on every corner is long gone with the age of mobiles and internet banking.

[hibsbollah]

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Williams and Glyn are existing RBS England and Wales branches and NatWest Scotland branches. So absolutely no acquisition at all, they already owned them. As far as I know there has been no acquisitions since ABN.

I suppose technically that's true but the W&G IT contract represented an 'acquisition' of a new enormous piece of work that was always fraught with risk. We're getting into the grounds of in-the-knowery at this point but suffice it to say things are likely to get worse before they get better.

[Colr]

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...-fife-38170966

Anybody else think that RBS are using the online banking as a convenient excuse?

They closed a branch near me saying that walk-in customers were down 11%.
What about the rest? Did someone at a management meeting ask, "How can we pi$$ off 89% of our customers in one locality in one stroke?"

I find their partronising adverts galling now. "We're with you every day, We're the Royal Bank for Scotland" - eh, no you're not.

Can't remember the last time I had to go into a bank branch. It must have been some 15years ago.

[johnbc70]

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I suppose technically that's true but the W&G IT contract represented an 'acquisition' of a new enormous piece of work that was always fraught with risk. We're getting into the grounds of in-the-knowery at this point but suffice it to say things are likely to get worse before they get better.

It was not a contract, it was mandated by the EU.

But we probably both agree it is a mess, sooner it's sorted the better.

[Speedy]

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As a straw poll, how many on here still use branches? I seldom do and only for paying in money for work which can't be banked any other way.

The days of needing one on every corner is long gone with the age of mobiles and internet banking.

Very rarely. Annually at most.

[PeeJay]

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As a straw poll, how many on here still use branches? I seldom do and only for paying in money for work which can't be banked any other way.

The days of needing one on every corner is long gone with the age of mobiles and internet banking.

I imagine lots of "elderly" people go to branches still - and not everybody has a mobile phone or does online banking ... so the need must still be there, I would think?

[beensaidbefore]

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I imagine lots of "elderly" people go to branches still - and not everybody has a mobile phone or does online banking ... so the need must still be there, I would think?

You're right, I think with branches being closed there will be more travelling banks that visit a certain area on a certain day. They can go to outlying places like fairmilehead, crammond, gilmerton etc and set up for the day. People who needed to would know when to go and make the time to do so. Total pain but you can understand why. You could effectively close 5 branches for each van/bus/truck and visit those areas once a week. Would save a fortune.

[johnbc70]

The busiest branch in the UK? The 0729 train from Brighton to London. More people do their banking at that time in the morning than at any other time.

Yes branches will be needed but the days of having a large branch network has gone.

[heretoday]

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The busiest branch in the UK? The 0729 train from Brighton to London. More people do their banking at that time in the morning than at any other time.

Yes branches will be needed but the days of having a large branch network has gone.

That's an impressive stat.

It's bad news for older folk who don't trust the Internet with their hard - earned.

[Speedy]

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I imagine lots of "elderly" people go to branches still - and not everybody has a mobile phone or does online banking ... so the need must still be there, I would think?

You can pay cash/cheques in at the post office and can take cash out there or at an atm.

That probably covers the bulk of the need.

[PeeJay]

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You can pay cash/cheques in at the post office and can take cash out there or at an atm.

That probably covers the bulk of the need.

Sure, but if I need a new account, a debit card, etc, or if I change my location, need a loan, lose my card, need some financial/banking advice, want to exchange money will the PO help me, can the ATM help me?

Another aspect worthy of consideration is the atrocious level of IT security at banks in general with regard to the obsolete online processes/systems/infrastructure in place - how soon before that system breaks down: what then? Here in Germany most systems are roughly 20 years old and the people capable of servicing/maintaining such "old" systems are retiring or have retired .... is it any different in the UK I wonder?

... you guys still use "cheques"???