Strategy
Media Reports Speculate On RBS Job Cuts Ahead Of 2013 Results

RBS, parent of Coutts, declined to comment on press speculation that it is planning big job cuts.
Media reports claiming that Royal Bank of Scotland, parent of Coutts, the private bank, is planning to announce further deep cuts to international and investment banking jobs take insufficient account of large-scale changes already announced, this publication understands.
A report by Reuters on Friday, citing unnamed sources,
said the bank could cut as much as a quarter of its international
workforce of 120,000 people. A report in the Financial
Times gave a figure of 30,000 cuts. RBS is due to issue
fourth-quarter and full-year figures on Thursday, 27 February.
The bank declined to comment on the matter when contacted by this
publication, saying it cannot do so shortly ahead of a results
announcement.
The Reuters report said the 30,000 staff cut figure
includes previously announced plans to sell its US retail
business Citizens, which accounts for 18,300 jobs, and a UK
retail business, Williams & Glyn, which employs 4,500. This
publication understands, meanwhile, that the already-announced
reductions account for the bulk of any cuts taking place.
As is perhaps inevitable in the run-up to results, rumours about
RBS’ strategy have been circulating, particularly as it is
understood that the UK government wants the bank to improve
profitability and shed certain units ahead of any sale of the
taxpayer’s stake in the bank. (The government owns more than 80
per cent of RBS). The bank was rescued in 2008 amid heavy losses
sustained in the credit crunch. One factor behind its woes was
the high-risk M&A strategy to buy part of ABN AMRO - by
then-chief executive Fred Goodwin. He subsequently resigned and
was pilloried in the media as an example of the kind of
hard-charging CEO who had got banks into trouble.
Ever since the 2008 crisis and government bailout, there has also been speculation that Coutts, part of the wealth segment of RBS, could be sold. During the past five years, however, there has been no clear indication from the bank about such a move, and it hasn’t commented when contacted about it.