New hub opens after closure of Wick's last bank
Wick's hub has opened in the town's former RBS building, and is the most northerly of Cash Access UK's hubs.It has a counter service run by the Post Office.Staff from three banks will make visits to meet customers, with TSB on Tuesdays, RBS on Wednesdays and Bank of Scotland on Thursdays.The premises also has a cash machine.Cash Access UK chief executive Gareth Oakley said: "I'm happy to announce the opening of our Wick hub, ensuring crucial access to cash and face-to-face banking services for residents and businesses across the community. "Customers can visit on any day of the week for their everyday banking transactions, and if you have a specific or more complex inquiry for your bank, a community banker will be there to help on the day they're in the hub."Caithness and Sutherland MP Jamie Stone welcomed the opening of the new hub, and said many customers still wanted face-to-face contact with bank staff.In Scotland, Cash Access UK also has sites in Turriff in Aberdeenshire, Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway and Troon in South Ayrshire.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Starmer under fire over American tariffs on UK steel
Britain's struggling steel industry last night called for American tariffs to be axed 'once and for all' – nearly three months after a deal to do so was struck. Steel exported from the UK to the US still faces a tariff of 25 per cent despite an agreement in early May to cut it to zero alongside the levy on cars and aerospace. Most other British goods entering the US face a 10 per cent levy – which thanks to Brexit is lower than the 15 per cent Donald Trump agreed with the EU. Sir Keir Starmer is understood to have pressed the President to finally reduce tariffs on British steel to zero as agreed during talks in Scotland yesterday. That would give the UK a welcome competitive advantage given steel imported by America from much of the rest of the world faces a 50 per cent tariff.
Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Telegraph
Bailey thwarts Reeves in row over Revolut
Andrew Bailey blocked an attempt by Rachel Reeves to set up a meeting between Britain's most valuable fintech company and City regulators. The Governor of the Bank of England intervened owing to concerns about Revolut's summit with the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), which was set up to discuss the fintech giant becoming a fully-fledged bank. The Chancellor tried to arrange the meeting as part of her attempts to persuade the $65bn (£56bn) UK-based company to list in London instead of New York. It comes after Nikolay Storonsky, Revolut's chief executive, criticised Britain's 'extremely bureaucratic regulator'. Mr Bailey's intervention, which led to the meeting being cancelled, came amid concerns that the Bank was at risk of political meddling, according to the Financial Times. Revolut is still attempting to become a full-service bank in the UK, a year after it was finally granted a provisional banking licence after a three-year wait. The clash comes after Mr Bailey has issued a series of vocal rebukes of the Chancellor's policies in recent weeks, including her pension reforms and deregulation drive. He openly opposed Ms Reeves's proposed 'backstop' power to mandate pension schemes to invest in British assets just days after the plans were unveiled, saying: 'I do not support mandating. I don't think that's appropriate.' While Mr Bailey was not going to attend the meeting with Revolut, it is understood that officials in the PRA, which is an arm of the Bank, were. Revolut was forced to wait three years for a limited licence after regulators raised questions about its accounts. Auditors had flagged concerns in 2021 after they were unable to verify roughly two thirds of the fintech's revenues. Officials at the Bank of England had initially told Treasury staff they intended to reject the licence application. However, negotiations subsequently resumed, with the Bank insisting on a clean set of accounts and simplified shareholder structure before granting the initial licence last July. Revolut is currently in the Bank's 'mobilisation' stage, which prevents it from holding more than £50,000 in deposits. Full authorisation – which would allow it to make loans and hold protected deposits – can take several months but is meant to take no more than a year. 'Regulators killing the City' Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, who as City minister in the last Tory government clashed publicly with financial regulators, said he sympathised with Ms Reeves. He said: 'Anyone in business knows that culture beats strategy. 'It is the deep-seated culture of risk aversion by regulators which is killing the City. If this Revolut story is true, the Chancellor should use this to double down on regulatory reform.' Mr Bailey was asked by MPs last week if he agreed with the Chancellor's recent claim that regulation is 'the boot on the neck' of business. 'I do not use those terms,' he said. 'There are areas where we clearly should look at [revising regulations]. But we cannot compromise on basic financial stability, that would be my overall message.' Mr Bailey specifically warned Ms Reeves against relaxing so-called ring-fencing rules, which divide retail banking from the risky world of investment banking. The Chancellor last week announced the ring-fencing regime would be 'reformed' as part of her overhaul. She has instructed Emma Reynolds, the current City minister, to review the policies. However, Mr Bailey said: 'The ring-fencing regime is an important part of the structure of the banking system.' One Bank source said: 'If [Bailey] is not reminding people that financial stability is good, then who will?'
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Trump opens new golf course in Scotland, heading home with eye on Middle East
ABERDEEN, Scotland, July 29 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump formally opened a new golf course at his sprawling property in Scotland on Tuesday, saying he would play a quick round before heading home to focus on addressing crises in the Middle East and elsewhere. Trump, wrapping up a five-day visit to Scotland, was joined by former soccer players, golfers and business leaders for a first round of golf at his new second 18-hole course at Trump International near Aberdeen, Scotland. Initially billed as a private visit, the trip quickly morphed into a diplomatic mission, including a trade agreement sealed with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, bilateral meetings with British officials and phone calls aimed at ending a nascent war between Cambodia and Thailand. During a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, Trump raised pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a worsening hunger crisis in the war-torn Palestinian enclave of Gaza. Asked at Tuesday's event what he would say to Netanyahu, Trump said he was trying to get things "straightened out". During his talks with Starmer, Trump said he disagreed with Netanyahu's assessment there was no starvation in Gaza, while giving Russian President Vladimir Putin a much tighter deadline to make progress towards ending the war in Ukraine. Flanked by his two sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., with several grandchildren nearby, Trump raved about the beauty of the new golf course in the dunes of northeastern Scotland, before teeing off. "I look forward to playing it today. We're going to play it very quickly, and then I go back to (Washington) D.C. and we put out fires all over the world," he said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new course, alluding in part to a ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia. "We stopped a war - we've stopped about five wars. So that's much more important than playing golf." Several nations have nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, a message endorsed by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a social media post in recent days. Golfers Paul McGinley and Rich Beem teed off with Trump and his son Eric, and an eclectic mix of notable figures followed. Former Chelsea and A.C. Milan striker and top Ukraine goal-scorer Andriy Shevchenko, who is now the president of his country's football association, was a guest, as were fellow ex-soccer players Robbie Fowler, Gianfranco Zola and Jim Leighton. Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who met with Trump earlier on Tuesday, also attended, along with Adrian Mardell, the chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover, and Alastair King, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, who represents Britain's finance industry.
