RBS sheds more than 2,000 back-office jobs

Beleaguered bank makes more employees redundant in another move to trim costs

RBS is expected to report a loss of up to £8bn for 2008

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is set to lay off around 2,300 UK back-office staff in its latest move to survive the recession.

The cull corresponds to around two per cent of RBS' 106,000-strong UK workforce. It is understood that the move will not affect customer-facing employees, such as business analysts.

"Any news of this nature is unwelcome at any time," said RBS UK chief executive Alan Dickinson.

He said it is essential that business reviews are carried out on a constant basis "to ensure that we are able to operate as efficiently as possible, especially in the current economic circumstances".

The news follows RBS' widely reported intentions to pay out £1bn worth of bonuses to high-performing staff. This contrasts with the bank's predictions of an annual loss reaching around £8bn for 2008.

Back-office staff - which often includes IT workers - have been among those hardest hit by job losses across the financial services sector.