Layoffs Watch '11: RBS

Author:: Bess Levin
Publish date:: Aug 3, 2011
Updated on: Jan 14, 2019

RBS has a new internal motto called “Change the Bank." What do the changes entail? Ixnaying on ealsday ikelay ABN AMRO-ay and firing a couple thousand employees.

Royal Bank of Scotland plans to shed as many as 2,000 employees from its investment banking arm as it completes the integration of ABN Amro, the disastrous Dutch acquisition that pushed RBS to the brink of collapse. John Hourican, the head of RBS’s global banking and markets division, told the Financial Times that a smaller, more focused business would deliver more stable profits, while avoiding the “strategic tourism” that saw past management teams pursue ill-fated expansion. “The thing about the ABN Amro deal was it was a massive, bold undertaking at exactly the wrong moment,” Mr Hourican said. “You could not have chosen the more perfect ill-timing for any transaction.”
At RBS, the 2,000 jobs earmarked for elimination within global banking and markets are part of the “Change the Bank” initiative, which was set up to reduce inefficiencies across the group.

[FT] via BI

The bad news is that 600 of the Queen's corgis are being let go. The good news, while it probably comes as little solace to those who will no longer receive birthday chickens, is that 300 or so new ones will be hired in their place. State-backed lender Royal Bank of Scotland is making more than 600 staff redundant as a result of legislation due to come into force at the end of the year, bringing total staff reductions at the bank since its 2008 bailout to around 36,000. RBS, 82 percent owned by the government, said the jobs would go as a result of new UK rules requiring retail financial products such as savings and investment vehicles to be sold by more highly qualified staff and charged a fee. "As a response to this we will be reducing the number of roles by 618 across the UK and creating 351 new roles," an RBS spokesman said on Tuesday. "Having to cut jobs is the most difficult part of our work to rebuild RBS and repay taxpayers for their support. We continue to make efficiencies across our business to deliver greater value toour customers and shareholders," the spokesman added. RBS Job Loss Hits 36,000 [Reuters]

Like Bank of America, RBS has some big goals for the coming year, chief among them being the firing of several thousand investment bankers. (For those skeptical they can do it, according to a PowerPoint presentation presented yesterday, re: the "exits," quite a bit of progress has already been made.) Royal Bank of Scotland, Britain’s biggest government-owned lender, said it will cut 300 more jobs at its investment banking unit and is “on track” with its plan to exit businesses. RBS will eliminate 3,800 jobs at the division by the fourth quarter of next year, compared with an earlier target of 3,500, according to slides based on a presentation delivered by John Hourican, chief of markets and international banking, to analysts Monday. About 3,000 of the cuts will have completed this year, RBS said...The bank’s control of costs is “ongoing,” said Chris Kyle, chief financial officer of markets and international banking, at the presentation. “We will almost certainly hit this year’s number” in terms of the guidance, he said. Royal Bank Of Scotland Cuts 300 More Jobs At Investment Bank [Bloomberg] RBS Markets Investor Roundtable [RBS]