I AM curious about the recent £1.7 billion takeover by Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank of Virgin Money, and the intended re-branding of the combined bank as Virgin ("Clydesdale Bank owners complete £1.7bn Virgin deal", The Herald, October 19).
Having accounts in both banks I cannot understand how this acquisition by Clydesdale ties in with its policy of closing so many branches in recent years.
As I understand, the logic behind the takeover, and the intended use of the Virgin bank name, is to create a higher profile for the combined bank and lead to rapid growth.
Currently my nearest Virgin Money is a small, shop-like branch in Giffnock involving a 66-mile round trip from my home.
Meanwhile Clydesdale recently closed its Prestwick Branch, now a Costa Coffee. Prestwick has a population of 15,000.
In fairness RBS and BoS also closed their branches in the town and the only bank left is a small TSB branch.
With the Virgin brand designed to encourage growth and private deposits (interest rates are likely to rise) are we going to see a rapid rise of bank branch openings?
Watch this space.
John Ewing,
Fairfield Park, Ayr.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel