A local councillor has branded a major bank’s decision to close its branch in a Ross-shire town an “outright disaster”.
Clydesdale Bank is to close its Tain branch on July 25 because more customers want to access day-to-day banking services quickly online, on the move and outside normal business hours, according to the financial giant.
The next closest Clydesdale branch is Brora, which means customers will have to travel an extra 23 miles – a 46-mile round trip – to do their banking face to face.
Clydesdale said the Tain branch is one of nine across Scotland set to close this year, and that the firm will soon be launching a new banking service for tablets and smartphones called ‘B’, to enable banking services to be used more easily on such devices.
But Tain and Easter Ross councillor Jamie Stone said last night that the decision was an “outright disaster,” adding: “Banks have to realise that many people in society, particularly elderly people, prefer face to face banking. To see a bank go that’s been in Tain for as long as I can remember, is absolutely unacceptable.
“I feel that this is a matter of urgency for a suitable committee in Scottish Parliament, possibly the Enterprise Committee. I can see a local campaign on this.
“The danger is that if you take the face to face services away you will inevitably encourage people to not use banks at all and that takes us into the realms of the black economy.”
Under the planned closures, customers in Tain will have to travel further than anyone else.
Hawick’s branch will be the next worst affected in terms of extra journey time, with customers facing a 35-mile round trip to Galashiels to do business face to face from August.
Customers at six of the branches facing closure across the country will not have to travel any more than four miles to access their next closest branch.
Clydesdale said that staff at Tain will have the opportunity to take roles either within other branches or elsewhere in the company.
Posters will be placed in each branch advising customers and written notification will be sent at least 12 weeks before each closure, reminding customers of alternative ways they can keep managing their accounts and their nearest branches, ATMs and Post Office.
Steve Fletcher, head of Customer Banking Networks, Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank, said: “I understand this will not be welcome news for those who use these particular branches. These are
difficult decisions but ones we must face as we try to keep up with the pace of change in the way people want to bank. We have to balance our investment to ensure we support demand where it is greatest, across mobile, online and branch services.”