Banking Jobs Boost for Scotland

HSBC is to create 300 jobs over three years with a £20m expansion drive into Scotland.

Its futuristic new "stores" will be fully-automated, and it believes around a third of the new jobs will come from a successful attack on the business banking market.

The bank will next week stage a four-day "multi- cultural street festival" in Edinburgh to mark the opening of its £2m flagship in Princes Street, and the launch in Scotland of its store concept, which The Herald reported on last month.

A further £18m will be invested over two to three years to create hi-tech branches in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, Perth, Livingston, East Kilbride, Newton Mearns, Stirling, Ayr, St Andrews and Oban.

HSBC said it would create nine "major city centre stores" and two commercial banking centres across the country. It employs 3000 in Scotland, 1100 of them in Edinburgh, but has only four bank branches. HSBC also plans to install round 100 fee-free ATMs across the country.