RBS to cut 1,000 IT-related jobs in restructuring
2,500 bank office roles also slated to go
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will cut around 1,000 technology-related roles in the UK as part of 3,500 job losses in in its business services division.
Affected locations include Leeds, Bristol, Liverpool, Plymouth and Norwich. The cuts will see the closure of 10 RBS offices with business service staff vacating a further two.
Around 500 of the 3,500 jobs lost will be offshored to various RBS locations in the US, India and Far East.
According to RBS, the offshoring is part of a general movement of roles between countries which has taken place for some time and will also see 150 "highly-skilled technology jobs" moving from the Netherlands to Edinburgh.
RBS is cutting more IT-related jobs as it continues to restructure
(Photo credit: RBS)
A third of the 3,500 job cuts are being attributed to the divesting of 318 RBS branches to Santander following a ruling by the European Commission. The changes will see RBS lose around two million customers, meaning fewer back office staff will be needed.
The cuts follow another wave of job losses last year as the bank continues to restructure its business services division. The first wave, announced in April 2009, resulted in 9,000 redundancies, of which 700 were IT-related.
This week's job cuts, which also include around 2,500 back office roles, will take place from the beginning of 2011 and are due to be completed by the end of 2012.
"We've always been clear the more job cuts were coming as we worked towards rebuilding RBS and repaying taxpayers for their support," an RBS spokeswoman told silicon.com.
A statement from RBS added: "We will do all we can to support our staff, offer redeployment opportunities wherever possible and keep compulsory redundancies to an absolute minimum."
Rob MacGregor, national officer for the union Unite described the UK job cuts in a statement as a "horror story". He added that the decision to move jobs abroad will be a "specially bitter pill for staff to swallow".