On borrowed time RBS branch in Shaw is poised for closure

SHAW’S last bank will pull down the shutters and serve its last customers at the end of this month.

RBS Shaw site

But the fate of the Royal Bank of Scotland building on Rochdale Road after it closes on Monday, January 28 remains unknown.

The Correspondent revealed news of the branch’s closure last September – the same month Barclays closed its branch on Market Street.

Despite complaints there has been no change of decision from RBS who reported a pre-tax profit for the third quarter of 2018 of £961 million, up 10.3 per cent on the same period in 2017.

More than 70 per cent of the Edinburgh-based institution is still owned by the government.

The latest round of closures will bring a loss of 258 jobs and leave around 54 RBS banks open in England and Wales.

Shaw’s RBS branch had previously survived a round of cuts earlier in 2018 which brought the demise of branches in Oldham and Rochdale as part of plans confirmed to close 54 across the country.

RBS said: “The world of banking has changed a lot lately and the changes show no sign of slowing down.

“Most people are doing their day-to-day banking online by mobile apps or over the phone.

“Fewer people visit branches and do fewer transactions there.”

RBS say since 2012 counter transactions have reduced by 45 per cent in the Shaw branch.

Only 54 customers use the branch on a regular basis. Of these 46 per cent also use other branches.

Options now available for Shaw customers include the use of NatWest branches in Oldham (2.82 miles away), Rochdale (4.26 miles away) and Hollinwood (4.5 miles away).

A number of services are also available to personal and business customers at Shaw Post Office, Higher Crompton Post Office and Heyside Post Office.

The Yorkshire Bank, also on Market Street, shut in August 2016 because it had become “unsustainable.”

And Lloyds Bank in Royton closed on Tuesday, September 25.

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