Royal Bank of Scotland to cut 1,400 jobs over next 2 years

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has said it will cut 1,400 jobs over the next two years as part of plans to restructure its retail head office operations in Britain.

"To serve our customers well, we have to ensure that our resources are focused on the things that matter most to them," Ross McEwan, chief executive officer of the bank's UK Retail, said in a press release from the bank. "Regrettably, we can only do that by restructuring the way we work in head office so that every effort is concentrated on supporting our customers and the frontline staff that serve them," he said.

The bank said no customer-facing staff will be affected, but support staff for the bank's retail arm, including those working in communications, marketing and customer analytics are expected to be affected by the job losses.

"This is clearly difficult news for our staff and we will do everything we can to support them, including seeking redeployment opportunities wherever possible to ensure compulsory redundancies are a last resort," McEwan said.

RBS also announced that it would invest 175 million pounds (around $270 million) in Scotland over the next three years in areas such as branch refurbishments, improved complaints handling, quicker and simpler processes for account opening and mortgage processing and improved technology in branches.

The bank, with over 8,000 staff, is the fourth largest employer in Edinburgh.

John Swinney, Scottish cabinet secretary for finance, employment and sustainable growth, said: "The Scottish government will do everything we can to provide support and help to those affected by job losses in Scotland through the Finance Sector Jobs Taskforce and our Partnership Action for Continuing Employment."