RBS to axe 10,000 jobs?

Employees at Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) could soon be on the lookout for new UK jobs, as it has been claimed the lender may be about to wield the axe.

Sources have told the Financial Times that up to 10,000 people could be made redundant at the financial institution in a worst-case scenario.

The move is likely come as RBS attempts to scale back its troubled investment banking arm - and most of the job losses are to take place in London.

According to the newspaper, the bank - which is part of the RBS Group - has hired investment firm Lazard to help it sell part of its global banking and markets division, but failure to do so could result in significant job losses as the lender also looks to deal with billions of pounds worth of restructuring costs.

Trade union Unite stated: "Speculation that RBS is considering cutting a further 10,000 staff is appalling."