RBS cuts up to 2,300 jobs

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   Beleaguered Royal Bank of Scotland is cutting up to 2,300 British jobs as it undergoes restructuring. 
It comes after the company's former chairman and chief executive joined other banking figures in apologising for the "turn of events" that led to their banks being bailed out by the Treasury.
RBS is now 68 per cent-owned by the Government after it went cap in hand for a £20 billion bail-out last year.
RBS said the cuts would not affect customer-facing branch staff and pledged to make every effort to keep compulsory redundancies to a minimum.
Alan Dickinson, chief executive of RBS UK, said: "We recognise that any news of this nature is unwelcome at any time.
"It is essential, however, that we consistently review our business to ensure that we are able to operate as efficiently as possible, especially in the current economic circumstances.
"We will be consulting with our recognised trade union, Unite, and our employees throughout. We fully agree with Unite that we must keep compulsory redundancies to a minimum and we will."
"He added: "Everyone at RBS is focused on delivering for our customers and restoring the health of the overall organisation. Staff have given everything they have over the last year, which makes the decision to cut any job an extremely tough one.
Appearing before the Treasury Select Committee, Lord Stevenson, former chairman of HBOS, told MPs that he and former chief executive Andy Hornby were "profoundly sorry".
Sir Tom McKillop, former chairman of RBS, said he would "echo" the comments and said he made a full apology in November.
Sir Fred Goodwin, previously chief executive of RBS, added: "I apologised in full and I'm happy to do so again."
Lord Stevenson said: "We are profoundly and, I think I would say, unreservedly sorry at the turn of events.
"All of us have lost a great deal of money, including of course a great number of our colleagues, and we are very sorry for that."
He added: "There has been huge anxiety and uncertainty caused for particular of our colleagues but also, for periods of time, for our customers.
"And I would also say we are sorry at the effect it has had on the communities we serve."
Sir Tom added: "I would echo Dennis Stevenson's comments. In November last year I made a full apology, unreserved apology, both personally and on behalf of the board, and I'm very happy to repeat that this morning.
"We were particularly concerned at the serious impact on shareholders, staff, and indeed the anxiety it caused to customers, so I would very much echo Dennis Stevenson's comments."
Sir Fred said there was a "profound and unqualified apology for all of the distress that has been caused".
Sir Fred denied RBS had ignored warnings from the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority, insisting that nobody had anticipated the scale of the crisis.
"I've gone over this time and time and time and time again in my mind as to what was the point at which we should have seen this differently," he said.

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basil Members Profile Find Members Posts Forum Regular Joined: 28 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 358	Quote Reply Topic: RBS cuts up to 2,300 jobs Posted: 10 Feb 2009 at 18:37
	Beleaguered Royal Bank of Scotland is cutting up to 2,300 British jobs as it undergoes restructuring. It comes after the company's former chairman and chief executive joined other banking figures in apologising for the "turn of events" that led to their banks being bailed out by the Treasury. RBS is now 68 per cent-owned by the Government after it went cap in hand for a £20 billion bail-out last year. RBS said the cuts would not affect customer-facing branch staff and pledged to make every effort to keep compulsory redundancies to a minimum. Alan Dickinson, chief executive of RBS UK, said: "We recognise that any news of this nature is unwelcome at any time. "It is essential, however, that we consistently review our business to ensure that we are able to operate as efficiently as possible, especially in the current economic circumstances. "We will be consulting with our recognised trade union, Unite, and our employees throughout. We fully agree with Unite that we must keep compulsory redundancies to a minimum and we will." "He added: "Everyone at RBS is focused on delivering for our customers and restoring the health of the overall organisation. Staff have given everything they have over the last year, which makes the decision to cut any job an extremely tough one. Appearing before the Treasury Select Committee, Lord Stevenson, former chairman of HBOS, told MPs that he and former chief executive Andy Hornby were "profoundly sorry". Sir Tom McKillop, former chairman of RBS, said he would "echo" the comments and said he made a full apology in November. Sir Fred Goodwin, previously chief executive of RBS, added: "I apologised in full and I'm happy to do so again." Lord Stevenson said: "We are profoundly and, I think I would say, unreservedly sorry at the turn of events. "All of us have lost a great deal of money, including of course a great number of our colleagues, and we are very sorry for that." He added: "There has been huge anxiety and uncertainty caused for particular of our colleagues but also, for periods of time, for our customers. "And I would also say we are sorry at the effect it has had on the communities we serve." Sir Tom added: "I would echo Dennis Stevenson's comments. In November last year I made a full apology, unreserved apology, both personally and on behalf of the board, and I'm very happy to repeat that this morning. "We were particularly concerned at the serious impact on shareholders, staff, and indeed the anxiety it caused to customers, so I would very much echo Dennis Stevenson's comments." Sir Fred said there was a "profound and unqualified apology for all of the distress that has been caused". Sir Fred denied RBS had ignored warnings from the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority, insisting that nobody had anticipated the scale of the crisis. "I've gone over this time and time and time and time again in my mind as to what was the point at which we should have seen this differently," he said.

Keymaster Members Profile Find Members Posts Forum Regular Joined: 27 Sep 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 363	Quote Reply Posted: 15 Feb 2009 at 12:45
	Royal Bank of Scotland, one of the banks bailed out with taxpayers' cash, spent 200 million pounds to hire top sports stars to entertain clients, a newspaper reported on Sunday. Fred Goodwin, the bank's former chief executive, agreed contracts of up to five years just weeks before he was ousted last October, the Sunday Times reported without citing sources. Some of the recipients of the sponsorship include Zara Phillips, the horse rider and granddaughter of the Queen, golfer Jack Nicklaus and Sir Jackie Stewart, the former motor racing champion. RBS, which announced a 28-billion-pound loss last month, the biggest in British commercial history, said it was obliged to honour deals agreed under Goodwin, the paper reported. It is a major sports sponsor, lavishing cash on the U.S. and British Open golf tournaments, Six Nations rugby, the Nat-West cricket series and Formula One motor racing. Goodwin refused to comment on the deals, the paper said. RBS is now 68 percent owned by the taxpayer. A spokesman for the bank was quoted by the Sunday Times as saying: "All our sponsorship agreements were negotiated on commercial principles and meet strict corporate governance rules." RBS said it now wanted to "strike the right balance" between obtaining benefits from sponsorship and trying to cut costs.

Blaze159 Members Profile Find Members Posts Forum Regular Joined: 27 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 448	Quote Reply Posted: 16 Feb 2009 at 09:59
	Tory leader David Cameron said no bonus should be paid of more than £2,000. And the Prime Minister has suggested that no one earning more than £20,000 should get an annual payout. The controversy has rumbled on for several days but was brought into sharp focus on Friday after it emerged that Lloyds was planning to spend £120m on bonuses. The bank - 43% owned by the taxpayer after a £17bn bailout - insisted that the most of its staff would get just £1,000 with average wages at the company £17,000. RBS, which has been bailed out by the taxpayer to the tune of £20bn and it 68% owned by the Government, plans to hand out £1bn in bonuses.

Keymaster Members Profile Find Members Posts Forum Regular Joined: 27 Sep 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 363	Quote Reply Posted: 18 Feb 2009 at 01:13
	Royal Bank of Scotland Group needs to find up to 8 billion pounds if it is to subscribe to a state-backed insurance scheme designed to cap any losses on toxic assets, The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported. Nobody at RBS was immediately available to comment on the report, which said the bank was struggling to find a way to meet the cost of an asset protection scheme that is proving so expensive because of the scale of its exposure to toxic assets. The British government is currently hammering out the details of the scheme in which banks will put billions of pounds worth of assets into a vehicle that will ensure they are only liable for a proportion of any losses. The government hopes the insurance scheme will give banks the confidence they need to reopen lending lines cut off by the credit crisis. Details on how much of any losses the banks will have to incur before the insurance kicks in are expected to be unveiled by the end of this month. RBS is trying to come up with a plan that will allow it to join the scheme without handing more equity to the government or weakening its capital position, The Daily Telegraph reported. The bank is already 70 percent owned by the government after being rescued with 20 billion pounds of taxpayer cash. The newspaper reported that RBS was in intensive negotiations with the Treasury and the government had stepped up its efforts to hammer out the details of the asset protection scheme. An announcement on the insurance plan had been planned for Thursday next week to coincide with results from RBS, but The Daily Telegraph said banking sources believed it would be brought forward.

Keymaster Members Profile Find Members Posts Forum Regular Joined: 27 Sep 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 363	Quote Reply Posted: 18 Feb 2009 at 01:17
	Chancellor Alistair Darling has announced that the government is limiting bonuses paid out to staff by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). "We want to see a cultural change where short-term bonuses are replaced with incentives for the long term," he said. Mr Darling said bonuses at RBS would be cut from the £2.5bn paid last year to £340m. There would be "no reward for people who have failed," he added. And future bonuses will no longer be paid in cash, but in shares.

basil Members Profile Find Members Posts Forum Regular Joined: 28 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 358	Quote Reply Posted: 18 Feb 2009 at 21:05
	Royal Bank of Scotland Group needs to find up to 8 billion pounds if it is to subscribe to a state-backed insurance scheme designed to cap any losses on toxic assets, The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported. Nobody at RBS was immediately available to comment on the report, which said the bank was struggling to find a way to meet the cost of an asset protection scheme that is proving so expensive because of the scale of its exposure to toxic assets. The government is currently hammering out the details of the scheme in which banks will put billions of pounds worth of assets into a vehicle that will ensure they are only liable for a proportion of any losses. The government hopes the insurance scheme will give banks the confidence they need to reopen lending lines cut off by the credit crisis. Details on how much of any losses the banks will have to incur before the insurance kicks in are expected to be unveiled by the end of this month. RBS is trying to come up with a plan that will allow it to join the scheme without handing more equity to the government or weakening its capital position, The Daily Telegraph reported. The bank is already 70 percent owned by the government after being rescued with 20 billion pounds of taxpayer cash. The newspaper reported that RBS was in intensive negotiations with the Treasury and the government had stepped up its efforts to hammer out the details of the asset protection scheme. An announcement on the insurance plan had been planned for Thursday next week to coincide with results from RBS, but The Daily Telegraph said banking sources believed it would be brought forward.

Blaze159 Members Profile Find Members Posts Forum Regular Joined: 27 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 448	Quote Reply Posted: 19 Feb 2009 at 22:30
	The ONS said that it plans to incorporate the debts and liabilities of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group into the public finance balance sheet. It said this could add between £1tn and £1.5tn to public sector debt. But the full impact of the bail-out on the public finances will not be known until the banks are returned to the private sector. "Profit or loss is what matters. If there is a loss it will be a lot less than these headline figures," said Mr Chote. The government was forced to bail out RBS in October last year and now owns almost 70% of the bank. It also provided funds to smooth the take over of HBOS by Lloyds, and now owns 43% of the combined Lloyds Banking Group. The government needs to borrow money in order to raise funds to invest in the banks. Despite the ever-growing debt burden, the government has made it clear that it will borrow more money if necessary in order to boost the ailing economy. "Spending will rise sharply over the coming months... We expect the chancellor to be forced to make significant upward revisions to his borrowing projections when he presents the Budget. "Item expects public sector net borrowing to rise above £130bn in 2009/10," said Mr Goodwin.

Keymaster Members Profile Find Members Posts Forum Regular Joined: 27 Sep 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 363	Quote Reply Posted: 20 Feb 2009 at 16:22
	Royal Bank of Scotland will report early findings of its strategic review next week, the bank said on Friday, following reports that it may have to spin off assets. The rethink of the business comes after the UK government took a 70 percent stake in the bank, and analysts widely expect it to lead to asset disposals. "We will sell any business if we think there is a better owner who places a higher valuation on it than we do," a source close to RBS told Reuters. Separately, the Independent newspaper said RBS was looking to sell all or part of the Asian operations it acquired when it bought parts of ABN Amro in 2007 and to dispose of its Charter One commercial banking business in the United States. A spokeswoman for RBS said that, as previously announced, a strategic review was underway and that it would announce first findings when reporting full-year results on February 26. "We would not comment on any speculation that might pre-empt the strategic review," the spokeswoman said. RBS had sounded out Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered and Australia's ANZ about buying the Asian operations, including assets in India, the newspaper reported, without citing any sources. The Independent said RBS was understood to be considering selling retail banking operations in the region while keeping licences and a wholesale banking foothold in key centres such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and India. The newspaper said that in the U.S. RBS wanted to sell the Charter One brand operating in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio which it bought in 2004 for $10.5 billion (7.3 billion pounds). The British bank hoped to keep its retail banking operations on the East Coast, it added. Finding a buyer for Charter One could prove tough in the current environment, but RBS had received at least one expression of interest, The Independent said. The 282-year-old bank's acquisition spree over the last 10 years has been widely blamed for making it more vulnerable to the global financial crisis.