RBS presses on with NatWest Markets cuts, axing 130 jobs - FT

LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> has cut around 130 jobs in its investment banking division NatWest Markets, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

The state-backed lender has paused much of its cost-cutting and restructuring initiatives to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, but has decided to press ahead with cuts to its loss-making NWM unit.

"Where restructurings proceed, we will seek to mitigate impacts for employees and customers, which will include delaying exits and continuing to pay employees, in certain cases, until 30 September 2020," a spokeswoman for NWM said.

Employee union Unite, which represents many RBS staff members, said individuals who had been placed on notice would be leaving the bank in June.

"Unite had strongly opposed these redundancies and called for all notices to be stayed and no staff member to be declared redundant during the current national crisis," said Rob MacGregor, Unite's national officer.

(Reporting by Iain Withers and Sinead Cruise, editing by Lawrence White)