Savage cuts have seen one in six financial services jobs disappear since 2008

Published on 01/09/2010 19:42

Savage cuts have seen one in six financial services jobs disappear since 2008

The building at number 200 on the right-hand side of the Royal Mile is where the Insurance Company of Scotland, later Standard Life, opened for business in 1825

NEWS that 600 more jobs are set to go in Scotland's financial services sector comes as insurer Aegon prepares to unveil details of cost cuts that could see up to 600 Edinburgh posts axed.

The job losses follow the capital's other financial services giants making deep cuts.

The biggest losses have come at the two part-nationalised banks, RBS and Lloyds Banking Group. RBS last week said it was closing its two main insurance offices in Glasgow, a move expected to result in 400 job losses. RBS, which is 83 per cent owned by the taxpayer, said in May that 2,000 jobs would go at its insurance arm, which it is selling to help alleviate European Commission competition concerns.

Of the 17,100 redundancies at RBS since the banking crisis began, 1,300 have been in Scotland, but the bank has warned of further job losses.

More jobs could also be on the line at Lloyds Banking Group after chief executive Eric Daniels last month revealed that the integration of Lloyds TSB and HBOS was only at its halfway point. Some 16,000 posts have been cut so far, including about 1,000 in Scotland. Lloyds has saved 1.1 billion through cost-cutting but wants to save a total of 2bn by the end of 2011.

Around 95,000 people were employed by Scotland's financial services sector in 2008, according to the Scottish Government. However, it is estimated that about one in six posts has been lost in the last two years. Research by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Fraser of Allander Institute said that some 16,500 financial services jobs will have been lost in the two years to the end of 2010.

However, jobs are still being created in the sector, with Tesco Bank adding 1,000 jobs in Glasgow and Edinburgh.