The Royal Bank of Scotland will make some 700 staff redundant in the IT and property departments as part of its plan to generate £2.5bn of savings over the next two years.

RBS had announced that it will cut 4,500 UK jobs by 2011 in its group manufacturing division, which includes IT, document processing, procurement and property and employs 45,000 people worldwide.

According to workers union Unite, London and Edinburgh staff will be the hardest hit but it is working to minimise the number of compulsory redundancies.

"Since the announcement by the bank in April that 4,500 people will be made redundant, staff across the company have been living with uncertainty about their future,” said Unite national officer Rob MacGregor.

“This confirmation for employees in the IT and property divisions that they will be the ones hit is devastating," he said.