By Sumeet Chatterjee and Sinead Cruise
LONDON/HONG KONG, June 24 (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland
has begun a major restructuring in its overseas
investment banking operations, cutting almost a quarter of
full-time staff in the United States, two sources with knowledge
of the plan told Reuters.
The taxpayer-backed lender is looking to cut between 80-90
jobs at its U.S. head office in Stamford, Connecticut, following
consultation with various employee unions and representatives,
one of the sources said.
The second source said the layoffs in the United States,
where it employs 400 people, were the first in a broader plan to
cut between 20-30% of NatWest Markets' non-UK workforce, with an
undisclosed number of redundancies also being considered across
Asia.
At least eight bankers based in Singapore were laid off on
Wednesday, the second source said, with redundancies in Hong
Kong also seen likely.
"In line with the multi-year process announced in February,
we continue to progress our plan to refocus NatWest Markets on
activities which directly support the bank's core customers and
on areas where we will have a more stable and consistent revenue
stream," a spokeswoman for NatWest Markets said.
"These are always difficult decisions, but we intend to make
NWM a more sustainable business and will be supporting our
colleagues through this process," she added.
The roles affected include economists, rates traders and
credit traders, one of the sources said.
Earlier this month, RBS named Robert Begbie as chief
executive of NatWest Markets, confirming a role he had held on
an interim basis since December.
Begbie faces a tough task to revive RBS's investment banking
operations, where returns and market share have underwhelmed
investors, prompting some to call for a cull of the business.
(Editing by Carolyn Cohn)
