(17 March 2016 – United Kingdom) Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced a cull of its investment banking division. The bank said around 450 jobs will disappear, with approximately two thirds moving to offshore to India.
The bank, which is largely owned by the taxpayer, said it would cut back- and middle-office roles in its investment bank.
Under chief executive, Ross McEwan, RBS has been withdrawing from the highlight competitive sector, as it focuses its personal and small business operations.
In a statement, the bank said: “As part of RBS’s drive to be a stronger, simpler and fairer bank, we have been restructuring our corporate & institutional bank, as well as reducing its size, to focus on our core customers and products.
“As this process continues our frontline staff need a simpler, clearer, more efficient relationship with our middle – and back-office functions to better serve customers, so we’re reshaping our services business accordingly. Unfortunately the changes will result in some job losses.”
The move comes immediately after RBS said it will be replacing 550 investment adviser with “robo-advisers”, an automated system that will offer advice based on customers responses to a series of questions.
RBS added that it would try to “redeploy staff into new roles wherever possible”.
The bank, which was bailed out during the financial crisis, recently reported its eighth annual loss in a row.