UNIONS and consumer groups have raised concerns about the impact RBS's decision to axe one in four managers of its high street branches will have on customers.

All 260 branch managers and deputy managers in Scotland were told on Wednesday their jobs were at risk, in a move that will mean scrapping the role of the deputy in RBS branches.

The move comes just two months after RBS announced it was closing 44 branches across the UK, 14 of which it classed as the "last banks in town" and are only open for a few hours a week.

Of the 14 "last banks in town", seven were in Scotland, six in England and one in Wales.

Rob MacGregor, Unite national officer, said he feared Scotland was being used as a guinea pig for the new restructuring before the "significant impact on branch manager numbers" was rolled out to the rest of Britain.

The re-organisation means 58 managers or deputies will disappear from 291 RBS branches in Scotland.

Mr McGregor said: "I think they will want to see how this has gone in Scotland before rolling out to the rest of the network. The concern is not just about the people who are leaving, most of those will be volunteers, it's the ones who are going to be left behind to juggle all the work that is remaining.

"These are managers who would meet customers.

"What they are trying to do is to get branch managers to manage not just one branch, but a number of them. There are concerns about the day-to-day running of the branch and how you make sure that things are running properly."

Marc Gander of the Consumer Action Group said: "They say that this will make it simpler and easier to do business with them and will have no affect on how they serve their customers."

The Scottish Government said it will do everything it can to provide support for those affected.