Fury as bank chief says customers must take responsibility for their own actions

• RBS boss says fraud victims should not be entitled to automatic compensation
• Ross McEwan says it is not RBS’s job to give a refund to those who are reckless
• He insisted that RBS already refunds victims of the most sophisticated frauds

The departing boss of bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland has insisted that fraud victims should not be entitled to automatic compensation. Ross McEwan said that customers must take more responsibility for their actions if tricked into giving their savings to a conman.He warned that it is not RBS’s job to give a refund to those who are reckless. His comments infuriated campaigners who believe many vulnerable individuals get scammed after they have been forced online because their local branch has closed.

Mr McEwan – who this week said he is standing down as chief executive – said his priority is to educate customers, rather than automatically compensate them. He said: ‘At this stage we’re thinking about how we work with customers. We’ve got a big programme of education. We, including the media, have a major job to do of educating people not to give details away. ‘We have to do this with customers – they can’t just say “Oh, it was the bank’s fault I gave my details away”. This is a collective responsibility.’ Mr McEwan insisted that RBS already refunds victims of the most sophisticated frauds. Each scam is assessed case by case, he added.

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