Royal Bank of Scotland set to close two Inverness branches among 18 axed across Scotland - but new £2.5 million “flagship branch” planned for city by owners Natwest
RBS is to close two Inverness branches as part of a Scotland-wide raft of closures that will lead to the loss of 105 jobs.
The bank’s owners Natwest will close the current Eastgate Shopping Centre and Inverness chief office Harbour Road branches.
But it is being reported that the banking giant plans to open a new £2.5 million “flagship branch” within the Eastgate Centre at Falcon Square.
In all, 18 of 86 RBS branches north of the border will go, with Natwest saying they are responding to customer trends and increasing numbers of people banking online.
The bank employs around 10,000 people across Scotland.
While branches will close in the autumn, the timetable has not been confirmed for opening a new Inverness branch.
An RBS spokesman said they would be supporting those who are affected by the closures through "exceptionally difficult times” with redundancies carried out on a voluntary basis
He said: "Like any business, we strive to meet our customers' changing needs and expectations and we've been responding to the industry wide shift towards digital services.
“But we know that a small number of people are not yet comfortable with it, which is why we are proactively reaching out to support them with this transition, having made over 200,000 calls last year.
“We also have experts that they can speak to for support and guidance.
"While we are increasingly engaging our customers digitally, our branch network remains important to us.
“We commit to no further review of our Royal Bank of Scotland branch network until at least 2026.
"We are also investing c£10.5m in our network across Scotland as well as continuing to invest in shared solutions like the Post Office and banking hubs."
