SIX NatWest branches across Oxfordshire are to close, the company has announced this  morning.

North Oxford, Kidlington, Chipping Norton, Didcot, Wantage and Wallingford will all shut in May or June.

The company said footfall in all branches was falling steadily and the majority of its customers were now banking in other ways, mostly using the internet.

The announcement is part of a massive nationwide closure program by RBS, which owns NatWest, which will see 680 people lose their jobs.

The closure dates are as follows:

  • NatWest Chipping Norton May 31
  • NatWest Didcot June 7
  • NatWest Kidlington June 13
  • NatWest Wallingford June 11
  • NatWest Wantage May 23
  • NatWest Oxford North June 21

The announcement comes just weeks after the bank opened a new branch in Cornmarket Street in central Oxford.

In a statement NatWest said: "We provide our customers with more ways to bank than ever before – customers can choose from a range of digital, face-to-face and local options.

"The way people bank with us has changed radically over the last few years: since 2014, the number of customers using our branches across the UK has fallen by 40%. During the same period mobile transactions have increased by 73%; and in the first half of 2017, there were 1.1 billion mobile and online transactions carried out by our customers: an increase 41% since 2014.

"Since 2012 we have seen the way in which people use NatWest branches have changed dramatically."

In Oxford North, for example, the company said that transactions in the branch had fallen by 28 per cent since 2012, and 91 per cent of customers were 'already banking in other ways locally'.

In total across the county RBS is closing 197 NatWest branches and 62 Royal Bank of Scotland branches - more than a quarter of the company's 1,003 branches in the UK.

RBS has clarfieid the only Royal Bank of Scotland branches closing are in Scotland.

An RBS spokesperson said: “More and more of our customers are choosing to do their everyday banking online or on mobile.

"Since 2014 the number of customers using our branches across the UK has fallen by 40 per cent and mobile transactions have increased by 73 per cent over the same period.

"More than five million customers now use our mobile banking app and one in five only bank with us digitally.

"We’re providing our customers with more ways to bank than ever before – they can choose from a range of digital, to face-to-face options. As customers continue to change the way they bank with us, we must change the way we serve them, so we are investing in our more popular branches and shaping our network, replacing traditional bricks and mortar branches with alternative ways to bank, including; Community Bankers, Mobile Bank on Wheels, and Post Offices, so that we can reach even more customers.

"We expect these branch closures to result in around 680 redundancies. We realise this is difficult news for our colleagues and we are doing everything we can to support those affected. We will ensure compulsory redundancies are kept to an absolute minimum."