ULSTER Bank has confirmed its staff are not affected by reorganisation plans from parent company RBS, which have put 800 IT jobs at risk.
Royal Bank of Scotland, which is 72 per cent owned by the taxpayer, is mulling over changes to its operating model that would result in an overall reduction in IT roles.
"Inevitably as RBS becomes a simpler, smaller bank focused on the UK and Ireland, our technology function will undergo reorganisation and will reduce over time," an RBS spokesman said.
The plans from RBS, which are only expected to affect London operations, come just two months after Ulster Bank announced it was making 64 employees redundant in its Belfast call centres in Dansefort.
At the time the bank said the move was part of "ongoing efforts to build a strong and sustainable bank" and insisted it would be creating 10 new roles in the contact centre team as a result of the changes.
RBS has said it has not consulted on any headcount reduction, instead stating that its plans represent a "direction of travel".
"Our proposed plans are designed to reduce the number of contractors we employ and strengthen our permanent workforce, and while we are downsizing in London we are reinvesting in other UK hubs," the bank said.
According to the Unite union, the cuts will amount to a 65 per cent reduction of contractors at the lender's London IT function by 2020.
Unite branded the move, which it says could see 650 permanent staff and 230 contractors axed, as "wholly unacceptable".
"The decade of slashing jobs has done nothing to boost morale, increase consumer confidence or improve the bank's performance.," Unite national officer Rob McGregor said.
"This British taxpayer-funded bank should be concentrating on investing in jobs here in the UK, rather than wholesale cuts."
