(March 23): State-backed Royal Bank of Scotland said on Thursday it planned to close more than 150 bank branches in Britain and 770 roles are at risk in the latest round of cuts and closures at the lender.

RBS said in a statement the changes were due to a "dramatic shift" in retail banking in Britain with more customers increasingly banking online.

The bank said there may be a net reduction of about 360 jobs when newly created roles are included. It plans to close about 128 NatWest and 30 Royal Bank of Scotland branches.

"We're frustrated to see RBS show so little loyalty to our high streets," the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland said. "Branch closures put pressure on local economies and make it harder for local firms to access banking services."

RBS said the number of people going into branches had dropped by about half on average since 2010, while the number of people making transactions online had jumped fourfold.

"As customers change the way they bank with us, we must change the way we serve them," the bank said in the statement.

Chief Executive Officer Ross McEwan has cut thousands of jobs partly in response to low interest rates and slowing economic growth which have pushed RBS and several of its UK rivals to reduce expenses.

RBS is struggling to return to health after requiring the world's largest bank bailout at the height of the 2007-2009 financial crisis and after nine years of straight annual losses.

The bank warned of more jobs and branch closures when it announced a 7 billion pound annual loss last month. At the time, it said it planned to cut two billion pounds of costs from the business over the next four years to help improve profits.

RBS will be left with just over 1,000 branches across Britain following the closures.