Bailed-out RBS axes 600 more jobs and shuts branches

RBS is axing around 600 jobs in its retail division and shutting 32 branches

The job losses will impact its retail banking division, with around 200 roles going across London and the South East and almost 400 being cut in the Midlands, East and the North, according to trade union Unite.

Unite said the job cuts come as 32 RBS branches are being shut, with many more seeing their opening hours reduced.

The union said 220 branches are changing their opening hours across the North, while 94 are seeing hours reduced in the Midlands and East.

Lyn Turner, Unite regional officer, said: “With job losses across the country and surviving branches on reduced hours, there’s no doubt this latest round of cuts will hurt the bank’s customers as well as our members.

“With every branch closure, NatWest is slamming its doors on another community, dangerously undermining the bank’s long-term future.”

RBS was not immediately available for comment.

The news comes a day after the bank, which had to be bailed out with £45bn of taxpayers’ money at the height of the financial crisis, hired a London-based advertising agency, Blue Rubicon, to lead a “turnaround in its reputation”.

Its latest job losses mean RBS has axed 1,500 roles so far this year as it looks to trim costs and stem losses.

The taxpayer-backed lender racked up its eighth year in a row of annual losses in 2015, posting a deficit of £2 billion.

As well as its efforts to make savings, RBS is also shutting branches as more people bank online - a trend changing the entire UK retail banking industry.

The jobs gloom comes after RBS revealed in February that chief executive Ross McEwan saw his annual pay package double to £3.8 million last year thanks to long-term incentive share payouts.

But he did not take a £1 million ‘’role-based’’ incentive for the second year in a row and the bank cut its overall bonus pool by 11% to £373 million for 2015.

It remains 73% owned by the Government and has yet to pay a dividend to shareholders since its part-nationalisation.

The group said on reporting its results in February that it was likely dividends would not be paid until 2017 at the earliest.