Wakefield RBS branch earmarked for closure

The closure is part of huge cuts by the bank, who announced this week that 162 branches will close with the loss of nearly 800 jobs.

Wakefield’s branch, on Northgate, will shut on August 22.

Elsewhere in West Yorkshire, Halifax’s RBS branch will close on August 1, while South Elmsall’s branch has not been earmarked for closure.

An RBS spokesperson said: “We realise this is difficult news for our colleagues and we are doing everything we can to support those affected. We will ensure compulsory redundancies are kept to an absolute minimum.”

Royal Bank of Scotland in England and Wales and Natwest retail banking business in Scotland were due to be launched as a separate ‘challenger bank’ under the name Williams and Glyn, but this is no longer going ahead. The spokesperson added: “We are no longer launching Williams & Glyn as a challenger bank, and we now have two branch networks operating in close proximity to each other; NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland, in England & Wales. “As a result we have had to review our overall branch footprint in England and Wales and we’ve made the difficult decision to close a number of Royal Bank of Scotland branches.

“Customers of Royal Bank of Scotland in England & Wales will be able to use NatWest branches instead for their everyday banking needs.”