PLANS to launch a mobile banking service in North Yorkshire and the Redcar area have been announced.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) aims to reach about 20 rural communities when the service goes on the road in February.

The mobile bank, based in York will operate five days a week. Although the routes have not been finalised, organisers are proposing the bank visits towns and villages near Catterick Garrison, Sowerby, Pickering, Malton, Guisborough, Loftus, Saltburn, Whitby, Filey, Wetherby and Tadcaster.

The service will be the first of its kind from RBS to operate in Yorkshire. Mobile banks already run across England, Scotland and Wales.

Ewen Munro, managing director of RBS retail, said: "The Royal Bank of Scotland has a long tradition of providing customers with mobile banking services, and we are delighted that we can now bring this to the communities in Yorkshire.

"In addition to nearly 650 branches, we will be running a total of 16 mobile banks, making life easier for thousands of customers, since our first mobile bank was launched in 1946.

"At a time when some organisations are closing branches, we believe that our branch network, and services such as the mobile bank, remain very important for the communities they serve."

The mobile bank will offer the usual range of banking services, including paying in cash and cheques, cash withdrawals, paying bills and ordering foreign currency.

The banks are adapted Ford Transit vans, with a livery of silver grey and St Andrew's blue, decorated with the bank's coat of arms.

In 1962, RBS introduced a boat bank in the Orkney Islands. Itwas superseded by a flying bank in 1969.