Scotland may have seen the worst of RBS job cuts, but more are still on the cards
After the latest round of job cuts at RBS - 3,700, of which 800 will hit Scotland - retail bankers north of the border can take some solace in the fact that the worst may be over, if Stephen Hester's words are to be believed.
The bank's chief executive stepped up to give evidence to the ongoing banking enquiry held in Holyrood. He promised any future cuts within RBS's Scottish operations going forward would be "significantly smaller".
Scotland has been hit disproportionately hard by RBS's restructuring programme, which Hester described as the "largest and most far reaching" of any bank during the crisis.
As well as the 800 redundancies north of the border announced this month, Edinburgh also suffered as the bank pared back its Group Manufacturing division earlier in the year.
"There's a very clear policy that the headquarters is Scotland, (and) that the community we are rooted in is here," he added, in defiance to recent suggestions that the "centre of gravity" of Scottish finance has shifted from Edinburgh to London.
Still, while Hester's words may provide some comfort to RBS's Scotland-based employees, the fact that some redundancies remain on the cards has not sat well with some commentators.
Tavish Scott, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, says: "RBS's promise that Scotland has seen the worst of its share of the job losses will be cold comfort to those already out of work and those who have to continue working under the threat of yet more, albeit smaller scale, job losses."
