Adam & Co, the Scottish private banking arm of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, is to follow its sister bank Coutts in introducing a monthly charge for certain bank account holders.

The new monthly £40 charge - which comes into force at the start of May next year - will apply to clients who have less than £250,000 in deposits, investable assets or borrowings with the bank.

A spokesperson for the bank told WealthBriefing that the moves were intended to bring Adam & Co’s terms of business into line with those of Coutts. Coutts announced that it was to cease to provide free banking for those clients whose investments, borrowing, or deposits do not total a minimum of £250,000 back in June, at which time the bank said the move was part of its strategy is to target those with over £500,000 in investable assets and encourage people to use its full range of services. The fee introduced by Coutts is £150 per quarter.

A pullback on services which were previously free of charge would seem to be a rising trend in banking across client segments, as firms look to protect and grow their revenue streams. In a report published in May of this year, WhiteConcierge, the UK-based business-to-business concierge and lifestyle management company, noted that the number of current accounts charging fees had increased 33 per cent between March 2010, and although these figures relate to retail banking they illustrate a generalised push towards banks prioritising their most profitable customers.