RBS plans 9,000 job cuts

Royal Bank of Scotland said today that it was consulting unions over plans to cut up to 9,000 jobs in the next two years.

The bank, which is now 70% owned by the British government, is cutting the roles from its backroom staff under plans to save £2.5bn (€2.75bn) over the next three years.

RBS added that the actual number of jobs lost was likely to be “significantly lower” due to natural turnover, fewer agency staff and voluntary redundancies.

Unions reacted with outrage to the latest job cuts from the bank, which had to be bailed out with £20bn (€22bn) from the British taxpayer last year and racked up a UK record loss of £24.1bn (€26.6bn) in 2008.

The group employs 170,000 people globally, including 6,000 in Ireland under its Ulster Bank and First Active brands.

The job will go in RBS’s group manufacturing division, which provides support for the bank’s customer-facing businesses, which include back office operations, purchasing, IT services, and property management.

As of the end of 2008 the division employed 45,000 people worldwide.