Seven Natwest branches to close in North East and North Yorkshire

Credit: PA

Natwest has announced the closure of seven branches in the North East and North Yorkshire.

Across the UK, 259 Royal Bank of Scotland and Natwest branches are closing, resulting in 680 job losses after the state-backed lender said more people are choosing to bank online or on mobile.

The bank, which is still 72% owned by the taxpayer, is the third this week to announce branch closures and job cuts, following Lloyds and Yorkshire Building Society.

A total of 62 RBS branches and 197 NatWest outlets will be closed by mid 2018 as part of the move and 1,000 roles will be affected.

RBS hopes to limit the number of redundancies to 680 by redeploying the remaining staff.

Is your Natwest bank affected?

  • Barnard Castle

  • Ferryhill

  • Newton Aycliffe

  • Peterlee

  • Richmond Yorks

  • Stokesley

  • Ripon

Union Unite described the move as a "betrayal" and ripped into the Government for allowing the closures to proceed.

The union's national officer Rob MacGregor also said that the move could effectively signal the end of banking in branches.

He added: "The Royal Bank of Scotland has decided to decimate its bank branch network.

"Now serious questions need to be asked about whether these closures mark the end of branch network banking.

"This announcement will forever change the face of banking in this country resulting in over a thousand staff losing their jobs and hundreds of high streets without any banking facilities.

"Why is the Government signing off this alarming branch closure programme?"

RBS insisted that it is providing customers with "more ways to bank than ever before".