Royal Bank of Scotland said it will cut almost 800 jobs and close 162 branches following a review of its branch network in England and Wales.

The latest cuts follow the closure of 259 RBS branches announced in December last year which involved 680 job losses.

An RBS spokesperson added: “We are no longer launching Williams & Glyn as a challenger bank, and we now have two branch networks operating in close proximity to each other; NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland, in England & Wales.

“As a result we have had to review our overall branch footprint in England and Wales and we’ve made the difficult decision to close a number of Royal Bank of Scotland branches.

“Customers of Royal Bank of Scotland in England & Wales will be able to use NatWest branches instead for their everyday banking needs.

“Furthermore, the way customers bank with us has changed radically over the last few years.

“Since 2014, branch transactions across Royal Bank of Scotland in England & Wales are down 30%.

“During this same period, there has been a 53% increase in the number of customers using mobile banking and mobile transactions have increased by 74%.

“We now provide our customers with more ways to bank with us than ever before – customers can choose from a range of digital, face-to-face and local options to suit their needs.

“We expect these branch closures to result in around 792 roles being made redundant.

“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.”