RBS begins investment arm sell off; 10,000 jobs on line

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has appointed Lazard to manage an auction of parts of its investment bank in a move which may lead to as many as 10,000 job cuts.

The move to sell chunks of its global banking and markets division comes hot on the heels of chancellor George Osborne's announcement that RBS will scale down its investment activities in order to focus more on high street lending.

Osborne's demand for RBS to rein in the riskier parts of its business came on the back of an FSA report which concluded risky activities undertaken by executives within its investment banking division contributed to its failure.

The job cuts are the worst-case scenario in plans being considered by RBS chief executive Stephen Hester, reports the Financial Times. The group's investment bank currently employs about 19,000 people.