RBS cuts 2,600 UK jobs

10th May 2010 15:37

Part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland announced it is cutting a further 2,600 jobs in its insurance and retail-banking divisions over the next year. The 84%-state owned bank RBS said 2,000 jobs would go at its Churchill and Direct Line insurance business and another 600 at the head office of its retail banking arm.RBS has to sell its insurance unit by the end of 2013 to meet European Union conditions on state aid. The bank said it would try to keep compulsory redundancies to an "absolute minimum". "We are working hard to rebuild RBS in order to repay taxpayers for their support and having to cut jobs is the most difficult part of this process," it added. "We have strived at all times to be open and honest about the tough choices we are making."