People in Cardiff have called for Royal Bank of Scotland to reconsider their decision to close four Natwest branches in the city.
Banks in Llandaff, Whitchurch, Rumney and University Hospital of Wales will shut next year.
Some customers say it’ll take nearly an hour for them to get to their local Natwest branch after the closures.
But RBS, which owns Natwest, say that they are now concentrating more on mobile and digital banking.
The closures come as part of plans to shut a total of 20 branches across Wales.
UHW employee Gareth Payne, uses three different Natwest banks regularly, all of which will close mid way through 2018.
He says he will have to take time off work when he wants to pay in a cheque:
“I’ve very frustrated, particularly as it’s partly a government owned bank, I think it should be willing to offer the community a service.”
“I’m also incredulous that on their press release they stated people weren’t visiting the banks. When I go to the Natwest at UHW, there’s always a queue, they’re very busy. The point of view of not having enough customers seems rather daft”.
But, RBS say that customers have changed their banking habits dramatically in the last few years.
In a statement, the bank said that since 2014, the number of customers using mobile banking had increased by 74%.
The closures across Cardiff are part of RBS’ efforts to focus on the higher number of customers using mobile banking.
The four Natwest branches in Cardiff will close in May and June next year.
