THE Royal Bank of Scotland's branch in Taunton will be one of 162 branches to close in England and Wales.

The Taunton branch, which is based on Fore Street and is currently undergoing renovation works, was announced as one of those being shut as part of a raft of closures announced by RBS today (Tuesday, May 1).

The bank, which recently announced increased profits, has said 792 jobs will go across the country and staff will be offered volutary redundancy.

RBS, which is partly owned by the taxpayer after it was bailed out during the financial crisis of 2008, said its business in England and Wales and its Natwest business in Scotland were meant to form a new 'challenger bank', but that project has now been scrapped.

An RBS spokesman said: "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."