RBS to deepen cuts at investment bank to save another £2bn
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced plans to cut costs in its corporate and institutional banking (CIB) business by about £2bn over the next three years as part of a wider strategy to reduce the size of the division. The bank expects annual revenues in its CIB business to fall to about £1.4bn after restructuring, down 65% from last year. Costs in the new streamlined CIB are expected to drop to between £700m and £800m, more than 75% less that the £3.6bn in costs recorded last year. RBS first announced in February that it would begin scaling back its business by reducing its assets, eliminating jobs and exiting countries worldwide. 'We're confident we can get it down. We have layer upon layer of things we don't need to do given the things we're creating', says Chris Marks, co-head of the CIB division.

RBS says it is cutting investment bank costs by another £2bn

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) set out plans today to cut costs in its corporate and institutional banking (CIB) business by about £2bn over the next three years as part of a wider strategy to reduce the size of the division.

RBS said in a presentation this afternoon it expects annual revenues in its CIB business to fall to about £1.4bn after restructuring, down 65 percent from last year.

Costs in the revamped CIB are expected to drop to between £700m and £800m, more than 75 percent less than the £3.6bn in costs recorded last year.

RBS first announced in February that it would begin scaling back on its investment bank business by slashing its assets by 70 percent, axing thousands of jobs and cutting 15 countries it operates in.

"We're spending too much money doing too many things we don’t need," Chris Marks, co-head of the CIB division, said today. "We're confident we can get it down. We have layer-upon-layer of things we don’t need to do given the things we’re creating."

"What we end up with is a much more focused, much more streamlined, much more efficient business than the one we had before," he added.