ABOUT 200 jobs will be lost in Edinburgh in the first round of redundancies at Royal Bank of Scotland.
RBS announced in April that 4,500 jobs would be cut across the UK in an attempt to revive the bank from its disastrous performance over the past year.
At the time, RBS had just announced the largest annual loss in UK corporate history – £24.1 bill
ion. The bank, which is now 70 per cent owned by the taxpayer, said it intended to save £2.5bn over three years.
Yesterday, managers announced further details behind the first tranche of cuts, revealing that 700 staff would go from the RBS technology and property departments in 20 locations around the UK, with Edinburgh and London being hit the hardest.
Officially, RBS refused to say where the cuts would fall, but a source confirmed later that this would mean about 200 job cuts in Edinburgh, all of which will be in the information technology and property sections.
RBS management said yesterday that it wanted to shed as many posts as possible through voluntary redundancy and moving people throughout the company, but it could not rule out compulsory job losses in the process, which is expected to take several months.
An RBS spokesman said: "Our firm intention is to ensure that compulsory redundancies are kept to a minimum."
However, the Unite union described the plans as a "massive blow" to the workforce.
National officer Rob MacGregor said that staff across the company had been living with uncertainty about their future since last month, adding: "This confirmation for employees in the IT and property divisions that they will be the ones hit is devastating.
"Unite has told the bank it is opposed to compulsory job losses and will be pressing them through ongoing engagement to offer continued employment within RBS."
Earlier this year, Unite calculated that finance firms had cut about 20,000 jobs in the first four months of 2009 and said the cull of skilled workers could jeopardise any future recovery.
Lloyds announced more than 600 job losses earlier this week, mainly hitting London and Edinburgh.
Nationalist MSP for the Lothians Shirley-Anne Somer-ville said: "Today's confirmation of job losses in technology services will be a devastating blow for the staff in Edinburgh who have been living in fear for their jobs for a while now.
"All efforts must be made to minimise compulsory redundancies and redeploy staff wherever possible.
"RBS, the unions and the Scottish Government must work together to offer tailored help and support for all those affected."
And she added: "I hope Edinburgh's strong reputation and skills base will ensure new job opportunities emerge."
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott said: "This is a desperate week for Scottish financial services. Yet another state-owned bank is laying off skilled workers in Scotland.
"It seems to me that bank bosses are taking advantage of the UK government's paralysis and dripping out announcements of long-term job cuts that will damage Scotland's economy.
"Many people will now be wondering why so much public money is being used to pay for redundancies."
SNP Lothians MSP Ian McKee said he had spoken to managers at RBS and had been told that the Edinburgh centre for technology services would be hit hard.
He said: "What makes the situation worse is the uncertainty over which branch will lose most jobs."
