RBS plans to cut 14 000 jobs

Group targets struggling investment unit as it narrows focus on UK

ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) might cut as many as 14 000 investment banking jobs, or more than two thirds of the workforce, as part of a plan to focus on the UK consumer market, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

The bank had not finalised the plans, said the person who asked not to be named because the details were private. The Edinburgh-based firm’s corporate and institutional bank, housing most of the securities activities, employs 16 000 to 18 000 people, out of a workforce of more than 108 000.

RBS chief executive Ross McEwan declined to comment last month on job cuts at the investment bank, saying the bank might eliminate a ”significant” number of positions, as the lender re- ported a full-year loss.

As part of his overhaul, McEwan plans to cut the number in which the securities unit operates by two-thirds and shrink US operations. The Financial Times reported the 14 000 job cuts earlier.

RBS shares rose 0.1 percent to £370.50 (R6 700) in London yesterday morning.

As part of its restructuring, RBS plans to cut risk-weighted assets at the investment bank from £107 billion to about £35bn to £40bn in 2019. The unit, headed by Rory Cullinan, reported a wider fourthquarter operating loss, partly because of restructuring costs.

At the US trading division, the bank planned to eliminate more than 1 000 jobs, the chief financial officer Ewen Stevenson said. The unit employs about 2 000 people.

RBS, the UK’s largest government-owned lender, planned to focus on clients in its home market and western Europe, with support from trading hubs in Britain, the US and Singapore.

It would keep some back office operations in Poland and India, as well as a sales team in Japan, it said last week. – Bloomberg