Layoffs Watch '15: Overhaul Of RBS Involves "Significant" Number Of People Being Told To Clean Out Their Desks

A bunch of employees in the investment bank get the honor of going first.

Author:: Bess Levin
Publish date:: Sep 23, 2015
Updated on: Jan 14, 2019

The bank is starting slowly by asking 100 investment bankers to leave after lunch and not come back. After that, the sky is apparently the limit.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Britain’s largest taxpayer-owned bank, will eliminate about 100 jobs as part of an overhaul of its investment bank, according to two people with knowledge of the matter...RBS Chief Executive Officer Ross McEwan, 58, is shrinking the investment bank, exiting 25 countries around the world, cutting jobs and assets as he attempts to overturn seven straight annual losses. He’s said there will be “significant” job losses as part of the changes, without specifying how many positions will be lost at the Edinburgh-based bank.

RBS Said to Eliminate 100 Jobs at Investment Bank in Revamp [Bloomberg]

He will absolutely not confirm the 14,000 out of 18,000 figure at this time but he will say visions of a bloodbath are representative of how things are going to play out.

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]

The bank is set to ask half its bankers in Asia to clear out their desks.

That's a lot of awkward conversations with HR.

The cuts are on top of Goldman's annual axing of the 5% of employees giving the bank a bad name.