Ewen Stevenson, CFO of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, told Bloomberg Television that job cuts are "inevitable" as the lender pushes ahead with digitization, Bloomberg News reported.
Stevenson reportedly said the bank is "moving into a different phase" and that the transformation will create a "better bank" by 2020, the March 1 report said. He added that the £2.5 billion restructuring costs reported with its full-year 2017 results are partly related to the disposal of properties and legacy data centers.
Stevenson did not cite a specific number of job reductions, according to the report, which noted that headcount fell 8.5% in 2017 to 71,200. He added that if further branch closures are carried out, "we'll give six months' notice and we'll talk very publicly about it." In December 2017, the state-owned lender said it would shut down 259 more branches due to customers accessing their accounts online.
Stevenson also said that if Britain does not reach a transitional deal with the EU for the period immediately after Brexit, some staff will be slowly transferred out of London to cover parts of its Dutch operations, which will need about 150 people.
A few days earlier, RBS reported its first full-year profit since its nationalization during the 2008 financial crisis. Full-year 2017 profit attributable to ordinary shareholders amounted to £752 million.
