Scotland’s banks are making redundancies, but cuts are light north of the border

If you work for one of the major banks in Scotland, it’s tempting to think that employment prospects are shaky. After all, Lloyds, RBS and Clydesdale Bank have all been cutting back their headcount this year. However, employees north of the border appear to be getting off comparatively lightly.

All three banks continue to make redundancies. Clydesdale is in the midst of plans to cut 1,400 people by 2015, RBS has shown 6,500 employees the door since the end of last year, while Lloyds Banking Group has reduced headcount by 4,796 during the first nine months of 2012

There’s no doubting it’s grim, and further cuts seem likely as all three banks remain in the red; Clydesdale slipped to a £183m loss, RBS was in negative territory by £1.2bn after a surge in PPI provisions, while Lloyds fell £144m in the red for the first nine months of 2012.

However, the majority of redundancies appear to be taking place outside of Scotland. The biggest cuts at RBS have hit the investment bank, with 2,000 people departing the markets business since December 2011, while the US retail and commercial bank has lost 900 employees.

The bank’s group centre, however, which includes a large number of people in Edinburgh, has actually increased headcount by 600 since the beginning of 2012 and UK retail has lost just 600 of its 27,100 employees.

Clydesdale’s chief executive David Thorburn told the Herald that although the job cuts were “painful and difficult but necessary”, it remains committed reducing headcount in Scotland by just 100 people. 468 employees have left the group so far, contributing to a £29m drop in operating costs.

Lloyds may be cutting, and has spent £332m on its “simplification” programme this year, but it still has 43 vacancies in Scotland currently.