RBS considers up to 10,000 further job losses in downsizing

Royal Bank of Scotland could shed as many as 10,000 jobs in its global banking and markets division should it not be able to find a wholesale buyer for much of its investment banking arm.

The company has reportedly appointed Lazard as it seeks a buyer for the division, in a radical downsizing of proprietary trading exposure. The bulk of the jobs potentially to be cut are in London.

The proposals, alongside between £1 billion and £2 billion of restructuring costs, were considered a worse-case scenario, a source close to the bank told the Financial Times.

Small-cap broker Hoare Govett is also expected to be put on the block, alongside substantial chunks of the bank’s equity and corporate market divisions.

Chancellor George Osborne said last month that the part-nationalised bank would be expected to curb some of its exposure to risk.

Chief executive Stephen Hester has already radically reduced the bank’s reliance on investment banking and said that he expects it to contribute no more than 30% of revenue in the future.

Hester has pledged to report on a strategic long-term review of the business by the time the company issues its full-year results in February.