Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has confirmed it will close NatWest’s Lothbury headquarters in the City of London and 60 of its acquisition’s branches.
RBS will spend £60m on integration with NatWest. It attributed the extra costs to property disposals and staff payoffs. Fred Goodwin, chief executive, said Lothbury had been closed. He would not be drawn on a possible price for the building.
He questioned the economics behind Barclays’ closure of 171 branches. He said the cost savings had been too small to justify large-scale retreat from high streets.
Financial Times 20/04/00 page 24
The Daily Telegraph 20/04/00 page 37
The Times 20/04/00 page 30, page 32 (Tempus)
The Independent 20/04/00 page 20
The Guardian 20/04/00 page 28
