Ulster Bank staff await news of job losses

Ulster Bank is expected to announce up to 900 job losses today as part of massive cutbacks at its parent company.

As Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) announced 3,500 redundancies to downsize its investment wing, staff were being called in for morning briefings.

There are fears that about 600 jobs will be lost in the Republic and another 300 in Belfast and other northern locations.

Ulster Bank has refused to confirm the potential redundancies, insisting that announcements on jobs are made directly to staff first.

It is the second major wave of job losses at the RBS division in Ireland after it announced 1,000 redundancies in 2009.

Ulster Bank executives held meetings in Belfast yesterday with the trade union representatives from the Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA).

It is understood staff will be notified of the job cuts on the bank's intranet system before it is formally confirmed at 10am.

The IBOA represents about 3,500 workers at Ulster Bank.

The union was yesterday given a broad outline of management’s plan to reduce costs and downsize the banking operation across Ireland.

According to the Irish Times, today's announcement is the first in a series of large-scale redundancies expected in Irish banks this year, with AIB believed to be planning to cut 2,000 jobs in 2012.