RBS upgrade leads to job cuts at Coutts
Royal Bank of Scotland is cutting 500 jobs from its UK wealth management business, with the sword falling most heavily at the Queen’s banker Coutts & Co.
RBS will cut the jobs over the next three years as it replaces outdated technology with a more modern IT system. The redundancies bring to 23,100 the total number of roles which have been removed since RBS was bailed out by the taxpayer in October 2008. Its headcount now stands at 160,000.
RBS employs 5,000 people in wealth management, including 3,500 in the UK. Those outside the UK will not be affected.
The largest cuts will be at Coutts, the jewel in its crown, which employs 2,600 in the UK. Adam & Co, its Edinburgh-based operation catering for the wealthy, will also be affected.
The bank said the cuts were necessary to help fund investment in the business and contribute to its goal of cutting costs across the group by £2.5 billion.
A spokesman said: “We are announcing a major investment in our processes and technology in our wealth management division to help us deliver better service and a wider choice for our clients. As a result of the changes, we are restructuring our operations and this will unfortunately lead to job losses.”
Unite, the union, criticised RBS’s latest job reductions, saying: “Unite does not believe that the introduction of, and investment in new technology should go hand in hand with the shedding of jobs. Instead RBS should focus on ensuring that their staff can continue to give customers the high levels of service they expect from the Queen’s bank.”
Wealth management last year made £420 million in operating profit, up 21 per cent on 2008. There was speculation that RBS might sell either Coutts or Adam & Co to raise money, but Stephen Hester, the bank’s chief executive, decided to keep the businesses. Wealth management helps diversify RBS’s volatile earnings from investment banking.
RBS hopes to complete much of the restructuring through voluntary redundancies and natural attrition. The bank said two weeks ago that it would reduce its headcount in marketing and other head office functions in its retail bank by 600 and would also impose 2,000 redundancies in its insurance division.
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Source : The Times
