RBS may wield axe on 9,000 jobs

Part-nationalized British lender Royal Bank of Scotland said it could shed up to 9,000 jobs over the next 2 years, including 4,500 in the UK, as part of a shake-up of its back-office operations.

The actual number of job losses is expected be "significantly lower than this", and compulsory redundancies will be used only as a last resort, RBS said yesterday.

"We have set a new strategy for RBS to restore the bank to standalone strength as soon as practicable," RBS Chief Executive Stephen Hester said in a statement.