RBS to close branches, will this be a trend?

You know, I haven't been into a bank for over 2 years. I don't take and refuse to take any cash or cheque payments, with all payments having to be made via bacs or card. I find it much more convenient and a whole lot quicker. I think the majority of people now bank online and will have some form of debit card. I think the service that banks give their customers by making them queue up inline to see only one teller open out of a possible five which is more often the case prevents people from wanting to use their services. I can see a lot more branches of all banks closing simply because people have far more interesting things to do......

I rarely go in to the branch, especially with all the cock-ups I have mentioned before in other posts.

Had a letter recently though stating I had to go in to sort an account for my son as he was now over 16 and needs to disclose details to allow him to get gross interest, so far from trying to do this the convenient postal/online way you HAVE to go in to branch.

What would happen if my local branch was shut down, would they expect me to travel?

Isn't this the First Direct model ? You can use HSBC to pay in money etc but everything else is online. I haven't been into a bank for years. Only need a cashpoint and that's limited now as most places take cards or you can get cash back.

Yep, I think First Direct are an online only subsidiary of HSBC. Supposed to mean better rates, as less overhead etc.

Still doesn't help you if you run the local newsagents and need to cash up all that loose change. Interesting times ahead I suspect