400 London jobs to go at RBS as part of huge cull

The part-nationalised bank, 84% owned by the taxpayer following its rescue by the Government during the financial crisis, said it is closing 12 of its 22 administration centres in the UK.
It includes the site in Enfield, where it has 379 staff.

The cull, which will run until 2012, involves back office and IT workers.

RBS has already axed 23,100 jobs including 17,100 in the UK since it was saved from collapse by billions of pounds of taxpayer money.

Unions reacted with anger at the news that further jobs are to go.

Rob MacGregor, Unite national officer, said it was "a horror story".

"Just three weeks ago staff were boosted to hear of the £1.1 billion half year profit yet today thousands of them are told that they have no future at the bank.

"The scale of the cuts announced today beggars belief and staff across the country will be left reeling from this news.

"We continue to see a financial services sector which thinks the skills and expertise of its staff are a disposable asset with scant regard for the high level of service these very same staff provide to their customers."

RBS said a third of the job cuts were a direct result of the sale of 318 branches to Santander, which it was ordered to offload by the European Commission.

RBS said: "Having to cut jobs is the most difficult part of our work to rebuild RBS and repay taxpayers for their support."

The bank was driven to the wall by former chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin who paid more than 70 billion to buy Dutch rival ABN Amro just before boom turned to bust.