Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Cults Bank of Scotland to close in August – after only 27 regular customers used the branch

Data collected by the bank shows 49% customers using the branch were over the age of 55, and only 4% of customers held business accounts.

Bank of Scotland. Image: DC Thomson.
Bank of Scotland. Image: DC Thomson.

The Bank of Scotland has said its Cults branch will close on August 14.

The North Deeside Road branch was selected after taking into account how many customers chose to use the branch over the last five years and an assessment of public transport links.

Data collected by the bank shows 49% customers using the branch were over the age of 55, and only 4% of customers held business accounts.

Transactions in the branch had fallen by 69% over the last five years for personal banking and by 89% for business customers.

Cash machine transactions had fell by 45% since 2017.

The Bank of Scotland said there will good transports links to alternative branches, Image: Darrell Benns/ DC Thomson.

The nearest bank will be on Albyn Place in Aberdeen, some three miles away from the Cults branch.

Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, is urging the bank to reconsider its decision.

She said: “This news will be particularly worrying for elderly and vulnerable Cults residents, many of whom may not use online banking, and have relied on popping over to their local branch for quite a number of years.

“While I appreciate Lloyds is refining its services based on customer habits, footfall, and other factors, I feel the decision will be detrimental for the local Cults community.

“A six mile-round trip into the city centre will be too much for the most vulnerable to undertake.”

Declining trade at bank branches

A Bank of Scotland message to customers read: “Following an in-depth review, this branch will close on August 14.

“Like many other high street businesses, we’ve seen people using our branches less frequently in recent years as more customers choose to do most of their everyday banking online.

“We’re responding to the way our customers use our branches. We’ll continue to invest in our branch network, but we have to make sure our branches are where customers need and use them most.

“As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to close this branch because customers are using it less often. In addition the majority of customers are also using alternative ways to bank.”

It continued: “You can use any of our branches and our nearest alternative is the Aberdeen Queens Cross branch.

“You can also use a Post Office for your everyday banking. We’re still here to support you, and there’s a number of ways you can bank with us. Read on to find out more, and for a summary of our review. “

Conversation