Mr Topsy-Turvy came to mind in the wake of an announcement by Royal Bank of Scotland on Friday.

This character from the Mr Men children’s book series created by Roger Hargreaves might, you would imagine, have been proud of the bank’s press release on branches.

This missive from Royal Bank of Scotland and its owner, NatWest Group – which is, incidentally, the other way round from how it used to be on those two big brands, following a renaming in 2020 from the former to the latter at parent company level – seemed back to front. Or upside down. Or perhaps both.

The headline on the press release, in bold, larger type, was: “Royal Bank of Scotland commits to no further branch closures until at least 2029.”

That sounded great, if perhaps a touch surprising given the relentless slew of branch closures we have seen in recent years, not just at Royal Bank of Scotland but at most of the big high-street banks.

Royal Bank noted in the release that it has more than 60 Scottish branches – a far cry from the hundreds it had previously.

Nationwide is currently pushing its commitment to retain branches as a point of difference. This mutual says every one of its branches is remaining open until at least the start of 2030.

So, while the commitment from Royal Bank to no further branch closures would certainly be a big change for the institution, it was not out of the question.

And all seemed rosy in the two bullet points immediately under the headline.

The first of these was: “NatWest Group commits £50m to modernise and upgrade UK branch network over the next 18 months.”

Then the second bullet point read as follows: “Expansion of unique mobile branch network, with increase in stops, offering more face-to-face services in communities across Scotland.”

However, it then became clear that........

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