RBS May Cut 9,000 Jobs to Help Repay U.K. Bailout

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, the biggest bank controlled by the U.K. Treasury, plans to eliminate as many as 9,000 more jobs worldwide as it seeks to repay a government bailout.

The cuts, which total about 5 percent of RBS’s global workforce, include 4,500 jobs in Britain. The actual number of positions lost may be “significantly lower” because of efforts to shift employees into new positions, Edinburgh-based RBS said in a statement.

RBS may be forced to eliminate more jobs as it seeks to cut costs by 2.5 billion pounds ($3.7 billion), or 14 percent, over three years and return the bank to investor control. Job losses of 20,000 are “not irresponsible speculation,” Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hester said Feb. 26. Today’s announcement came as the U.K. government increased its stake in RBS to 70 percent.