As global businesses, look upto Indian market for professionally skilled talent and cheap labour, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) slashes hundreds of jobs in UK to total 443 jobs in Britain and moves the loans team to India, with operations based in Mumbai.
The taxpayer-controller bank said as a part of its restructuring exercise, the roles would now be moved to Mumbai .
As told by a RBS spokesperson to The Guardian, “As we become a simpler, smaller, bank, we are making some changes to the way we serve our customers. Unfortunately, these changes will result in the net reduction of 443 roles in the UK. We realise this will be difficult news for staff and we will do everything we can to support those affected, including redeployment into new roles where possible. All roles which require customer contact will remain in the UK.”
This latest wave of job cuts by the RBS follows 300 or more investment banking jobs moving into India last year. The bank also shed more than 500 jobs as part of its plan to replace the staff in UK, giving investment tips with “robo-advisers” last year.
Trying to cut down on costs post £45bn government bailout at the height of the financial crisis a decado ago, has had its long-lasting cumulative effect felt even today. We expect now 12,500 people working for RBS in India, an organisation that owes its existence to the British taxpayer.
See: Employees in the Banking Sector in Singapore Worried About Layoffs in an Uncertain Economy
While no customer contact businesses will be move to India, the Bank however is looking at cost-cutting alternatives by hiring local Indian labour for cheap and getting things done on time. Also moving jobs related to small business loans is likely to prove more controversial, following a scandal at the bank’s global restructuring group, known as GRG.
Small businesses were pushed to the brink of collapse to enable RBS to make a profit and, after years of pressure from campaigners, the bank set aside £400m to refund fees for customers of the now disbanded division.
The bank was rescued with a £46 billion (US$58.48 billion) state bailout during the 2007-09 financial crisis. The bank said that staff in Mumbai would take over non-customer service roles such as background checks, while the UK staff will continue to serve roles that require customer contact and be the decision maker, when it comes to lending out loans.
Overall on this move, RBS stresses that all credit decisions will continue to be taken in Britain and no relationship managers with SMEs will be downsized.
Feature image credit: sbnn.co.uk
Also read: Strategic Approach to Cost-Cutting: Learnings for HR to Execute Layoffs Better
