London Scottish closes eight branches

In its interim results for the period ending 30 April 2005, the lender says it has carried out a review of its branch operations in order to ensure delivery of the cost benefits from its investment in new technology. But it also says its direct unsecured lending business suffered in the first two months of 2005 because of an increase in defaults and arrears leading to increased bad debt charges and provisions. The lender’s bad debt charge rose by £2.7m to £6m (up from £3.3m in 2004. Patrick Toyne Sewell, a spokesperson for London Scottish Bank, says the increase in the lender’s bad de...