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RBS Chief Executive Ross McEwan made the pledge on Tuesday in
response to questions from lawmakers in London on the bank's
closures in Scotland, where it was established in 1772 and is
still headquartered.
McEwan said RBS had to respond to the growing use of online
banking and fewer people using its branches, but was now
"comfortable" with the size of its network in Scotland,
"Our branches do remain a core part of our service and we will
not look at the size of the network again in Scotland until at
least 2020," he told the Scottish Affairs Committee.
Banks are closing branches to cut costs and modernize as more
nimble digital lenders grow in popularity.
RBS has been feeling the heat from critics and postponed 10 of
its planned closures in Scotland pending a review.
"You've taken a public relations pounding on this," committee
chair Pete Wishart said, asking whether 9 million pounds ($12.16
million) savings from the closures was worth it.
Other committee members raised concerns about vulnerable
customers and those in rural areas that might not easily be able
to access other face-to-face, online or mobile services.
However McEwan said the British government, which owns 71
percent of the bank, had expressed no view on the cuts other
than that it was a commercial matter for the bank.
So far, customers had not been leaving RBS in large numbers due
to closures, Les Matheson, its chief executive of personal and
business banking told the committee.
($1 = 0.7402 pounds)
(Editing by Alexander Smith)
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