Adam and Co job cuts an 'unfortunate consequence' of new technology

ALMOST half of the 300 staff who work at private bank Adam & Co's Edinburgh headquarters will lose their jobs, employees of the RBS-owned firm were told yesterday.

About 130 staff employed in "back office" administrative roles are facing the axe as part of RBS's previously-announced plans to shrink the headcount at its wealth management division over the next three years. The unit also includes the Queen's banker Coutts and RBS International.

In total, 500 jobs will go across all three businesses by 2013 but Adam & Co employees in Edinburgh were the first to learn of their fate.

A spokesman for RBS said the redundancies were the "unfortunate" consequence of its decision to roll out new technology aimed at streamlining different operating systems.

"It's going to be better for the customers but unfortunately the means fewer roles," the spokesman said. "We will do all we can to support our staff, offer redeployment opportunities wherever possible and keep compulsory redundancies to an absolute minimum."

However, trade union Unite has questioned why investment in new technology should go hand-in-hand with shedding jobs at the wealth management division.

The lay-offs come less than a fortnight after the resignation of Adam & Co's long-standing managing director, David Cathie. Kerry Falconer, the firm's head of private banking, will act as interim managing director until a permanent replacement is found.

As well as overseeing the significant down-sizing of the bank's Edinburgh office, Falconer will also have to deal with a potential backlash from customers after Adam & Co announced it was introducing a 40 monthly charge for current account holders who do not hold at least 250,000 in savings, borrowings or investments.