THE Royal Bank of Scotland has confirmed they are to close several branches across Scotland.

It comes a year after it emerged the Edinburgh-based bank were closing 100 branches in the UK and were accused by the Unite union of leaving large swathes of Scotland without a bank in their local community. One in four of the branch closures over a six month period had been in Scotland.

The latest branches to go include West Blackhall Street in Greenock, Edinburgh's Goldenacre and Tollcross and Brae in Shetland.

Also going this year are branches in Invergordon, Lochinver and Lybster in the Highlands and Stromness in Orkney.

RBS has previously been accused of reneging on a commitment to maintain a banking service "where we are the last bank in town". Unite said 48 of last year's 100 closures were classified as last banks in town.

In the latest round of cuts, RBS is the last bank in Invergordon.

The development comes a day after the bank apologised after agreeing a new penalty over the rigging of foreign exchange markets - bringing their total bill to over £800 million.

The taxpayer-owned bank described the cuts as a "difficult decision" and would be offering its customers alternatives ways of using its services.

The bank said there were a series of reasons for the closures, including falls in the number of transactions taking place in the branches.

RBS said: "We are writing to all of our customers who use these branches well in advance of the closure date, and will also display posters in the branch throughout this period of time.

"We will work hard to engage with all of our customers, local businesses and the wider local community between now and the closure date to ensure they are aware of the alternative ways of accessing their banking with us in the local area, and to answer any questions they might have.

"We are committed to following the UK government protocol on branch closures, and we have made the decision following careful consideration of a wide range of factors including branch usage and the alternative ways our customers can bank with us locally."

RBS said in April last year that it was closing 44 branches, with 14 of them the last bank in their town. The bailed-out lender said there had been a 30 per cent drop in branch transactions since 2010.

Banks had then been promising not to pull out of local communities since the furore caused by Barclays a decade ago when it closed 171 branches on one day.

In its customer charter of 2010, RBS said it would not close any bank which was the last one in the community. In May, last year, it emerged one in four RBS managers and deputy managers were to be made redundant at high-street branches in a fresh jobs cull.

RBS said many branches classed as the 'last bank in town' were only open for a few hours a week and only saw one or two customers per hour.

An RBS spokeswoman said that since the 'last bank' commitment was made "the way our customers are banking with us has changed significantly".

She said mobile apps and online banking were in their infancy and customers were not able to do their banking in the local Post Office.