Jobs safe in wake of Barclays' purchase of Standard Life Bank

Yesterday's announcement that Barclays was to acquire Standard Life Bank could have signalled yet more blood on the floor within Scotland's beleaguered banking sector, but it seems that the move will not result in any immediate job losses.

Barclay's 226m cash purchase of Standard Life Bank will simply mean that the 270 Edinburgh-based employees transfer across and there are no immediate plans for redundancies.

While this will allow Standard Life's employees to breathe a sigh of relief for now, the move does little to affirm politicians' claims that new entrants to the UK retail banking sector will fuel more competition and hence challenge the oligopoly of just five significant companies.

But what little activity there is in this respect seems to be benefitting the industry north of the border. Virgin Money, which is currently in the process of recruiting 100 staff for its Edinburgh office, yesterday formally applied for a full banking licence. This will allow it to start taking deposits and offering mortgages online.

New bank Tesco Personal Finance, meanwhile, is headquartered in Edinburgh (where it is plans to eventually create 200 jobs) and is recruiting for 800 roles for its new customer service centre in Glasgow.

More established firms have also been recruiting. Royal Bank of Scotland, for instance, has recently been advertising for strategic retail banking roles, including change managers within its Edinburgh, as it looks to review its operations.

Despite struggling to establish itself as a leading retail player, Standard Life Bank is still a relatively attractive acquisition. It has attracted 350,000 depositors, with balances of 5.5bn and has built a mortgage book of 8.8bn