ROSS McEwan, the Royal Bank of Scotland boss, will be grilled by MPs next week over the bank’s highly contentious plan to close scores of branches north of the border.
The RBS Chief Executive will appear before the Commons Scottish Affairs Committee on Tuesday morning alongside colleagues from the bank’s Personal and Business Banking division, Les Matheson and Jane Howard, as well as representatives from the Lending Standards Board, the self-regulatory body for the financial services sector.
The session will examine the reasons behind the controversial decision to close 62 RBS branches in Scotland, the subsequent temporary reprieve for ten branches, and the long-term future of local banking in Scotland.
Last December when it made the branch closure announcement, the bank said the closures were necessary due to changes in the way customers accessed banking services, which had resulted in a fall in branch use of around 40 per cent in the last three years.
But in February, following a public and political outcry, RBS said 10 of the branches would win a temporary reprieve until the end of the year with the planned closures reviewed to see if there were a significant increase in transactions.
The SNP’s Pete Wishart, the Committee Chairman, said: “RBS is a company that is still owned by the taxpayer and we still have many questions about the decision-making process that will lead to so many communities in Scotland being left without vital banking services.
“We also want more details on the branches that have been given a reprieve; on what basis will they be judged viable in the long term and why wasn’t this opportunity afforded to all affected branches,” added the Perth MP.
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