ANOTHER famous name is to vanish from Scotland's high streets after the 144-year-old Dunfermline Building Society became the latest casualty of the economic downturn.

Scotland's oldest building society is to be absorbed by Nationwide with the closure of half its 32 branches and the rest being rebranded under the Nationwide logo.

Around 240 jobs in the branches are earmarked for the axe and their associated IT departments are said to be under threat, but more jobs will be created in the call centre and customer service side of the business.

Dunfermline, founded in 1869, was rescued by Nationwide four years ago after a disastrous foray into commercial property lending. It will disappear in spring 2014.

Tony Prestedge, chief operating officer, said: "Employees will be redeployed where possible and the society is taking steps to mitigate the impact of the integration."

He said it would mean 85% of Nationwide customers would in future be within five miles of a branch, compared with 70% at present with the society's 40 Scottish branches.

Nationwide said it had for four years "maintained this traditional building society brand and stabilised the business for the benefit of members and employees, ensuring that it was able to continue to function".

However, it said Dunfermline had only been able to offer a restricted product range.

A spokesman added: "Having considerably enhanced Nationwide's product and service proposition after a five-year investment programme of £1 billion, the time is right to integrate the branches of the Dunfermline into Nationwide, delivering a better experience for members and greater operational efficiencies for the society at the same time."

The head office at Dunfermline will enjoy a rise in its staff numbers from 240 to 300 as it benefits from the integration of Nationwide's two other rescued societies, the Cheshire and the Derbyshire.

Scotland's high streets have suffered after a raft of familiar shops and services closed their doors in recent years. Comet, JJB Sports and DVD rental chain Blockbuster all shut.

The announcement from Dunfermline follows a statement from Royal Bank of Scotland, which said last week that about 10% of its branches are to close.

Ross McEwan, appointed chief executive officer of RBS's UK retail banking division last August, said existing branches may also move to much smaller premises because far less administrative work and fewer transactions are now done on these sites.

He added: "I think, across the UK, we have probably still got too many branches."