RBS axes financial planner jobs as cuts under Hester hit 36,000
STATE-BACKED lender Royal Bank of Scotland is making more than 600 staff redundant as a result of legislation due to come into force at the end of the year, bringing total staff reductions at the bank since its 2008 bailout to around 36,000.
RBS, 82 per cent owned by the government, said the jobs would go as a result of new UK rules requiring retail financial products such as savings and investment vehicles to be sold by more highly qualified staff and charged a fee.
“As a response to this we will be reducing the number of roles by 618 across the UK and creating 351 new roles,” an RBS spokesman said yesterday.
The cuts will apply to financial planners, and will not hit the bank’s corporate or investment banking operations.
RBS has cut more than 35,000 jobs since chief executive Stephen Hester was brought in to turn the bank around when it was bailed out in 2008.
The Unite union said it would oppose compulsory job losses.