THE owner of the former Clydesdale Bank is making further cuts to its branch network in a move that is understood will lead to around 70 redundancies in Scotland.

Virgin Money told the City this morning that it will be closing 12 stores in Scotland, stating the move was a response to changing customer demand. It will reduce its tally of branch numbers in Scotland to 43.

The closures are the latest in a series of cuts Virgin has made to its high-street presence in recent years.

In addition to the cuts in Scotland, a further 18 stores will be closed around the UK.

Virgin said it expects the changes to result in a reduction of around 112 full-time equivalent roles across the bank.

The branches affected in Scotland are located in: Airdrie, Banchory, Broughty Ferry, Cumbernauld, East Kilbride, Galashiels, Milngavie, Musselburgh, Oban, Portree, Stenhousemuir and Wick.

Fergus Murphy, group customer experience director at Virgin Money, said: “As our customers change the way they want to bank with us and conduct fewer transactions in-store, we must continue to evolve the role of our stores into places where we showcase our products and bring our digital services to life.”

Virgin Money said it will have a network of 131 stores across the UK following the latest closures.