UK-based Royal Bank of Scotland is transfering 500,000 customers who earn more than £100,000 ($190,000) a year to a new mass market private ...

UK-based Royal Bank of Scotland is transfering 500,000 customers who earn more than £100,000 ($190,000) a year to a new mass market private banking service, serviced by a dedicated call centre. Each client will have a dedicated relationship manager. RBS plans to recruit a further 150 relationship managers for the new service. The free service is being launched to retain RBS customers in the highly competitive UK affluent market and will be more similar to traditional private banking than the mass affluent premier banking services already offered in the UK by, amongst others, Barclays, Abbey and Lloyds TSB according to the bank. Last week, Coutts, the largest constituent of RBS's wealth management offering, opened its 17th UK regional office, in the centre of Milton Keynes, and has also announced its intention to open a further office in Chelmsford, Essex, early next year. Three further locations for new Coutts offices will be announced next year, according to a statement from the bank.