UK-headquartered Royal Bank of
Scotland is to reduce its staff by about 3,000, according to media reports. RBS is the parent of
UK private bank Coutts: at the time of writing, WealthBriefing was unable to obtain details from RBS on whether Coutts would be affected by the cuts.
The bank, which is among those in receipt of
UK taxpayers’ money to rebuild its balance sheet, is believed to be making the cuts in the next few weeks.
The bank's workforce is scattered around 50 countries, with a major base in the City of
London; a spokeswoman for RBS would only say: "We constantly review our operating model to make sure that it is appropriate to the market condition, and take action accordingly."
RBS has about 170,000 staff in total, of which about 100,000 are in the
UK.
New chief executive Stephen Hester said earlier this month: "Costs are one of the things we need to look at."
