RBS, branch closures, economy, housing

Royal Bank of Scotland has set aside £3.1 billion ($3.8 billion) to deal with US claims that it mis-sold risky mortgage-backed securities ahead of the financial crisis. The Telegraph reports that the lender, which is still 72 per cent owned by the taxpayer, now faces a loss for 2016, the ninth year in a row that it has lost money. Yorkshire Building Society Another announcement about branch closures today. Yorkshire Building Society is to shut 48 branches in a move it partly attributes to ‘an increasing desire among customers to transact digitally rather than on the high street’, according to The Guardian. The news follows yesterday’s announcement from HSBC which said it is closing a further 62 branches this year, on top of 55 already earmarked for closure. The Yorkshire, Britain’s second biggest building society, will quit the current account market in order to concentrate on mortgages and savings. It will also scrap the Norwich & Peterborough brand from the high street.