after ditching commitment never to shut last bank in town

Royal Bank of Scotland has come under fire for axing 44 branches after quietly ditching a commitment never to shut the last bank in town. The state-backed lender was forced on to the defensive yesterday after it was accused of mounting a ‘stealth attack’ on its branches. It has emerged that over the past two weeks RBS has begun a programme to close 26 bank branches across the UK, 14 of which are the only ones left in their towns. One of these is NatWest’s Chelford branch in Chancellor George Osborne’s constituency of Tatton. It means rural customers will have to travel up to six miles to their nearest RBS or NatWest.The bank, which has a network of around 2,000 RBS and NatWest branches in the UK, also embarked on a further 18 branch closures in February. Although local MPs and members of the communities affected were informed, no public announcement was made. The closures have sparked a furious reaction from campaigners, particularly as RBS made a high-profile commitment in its customer charter in April 2010 to never shut a branch if it was the last one in town.....Read more here