By Andrew MacAskill
LONDON (Reuters) - State-backed Royal Bank of Scotland (L:RBS) is planning to ax about 900 UK jobs, sources familiar with the process told Reuters, taking the total number of layoffs to around 5 percent of its British workforce in the last four months.
The latest cuts at the bailed-out lender are in information technology and back office positions that support the commercial, retail and private bank, the sources said.
RBS, which is 73-percent state-owned, is in the midst of a major restructuring as part of a cost-cutting program aimed returning the bank to profit after eight straight years of losses.
The lender confirmed some staff would lose their jobs but declined to give specific numbers, pointing to its long-stated ambition to shrink from the world's biggest bank by assets into a much leaner, UK-focused commercial and retail bank.
"We understand how difficult this is for our staff and will be offering as much support as we can including redeployment to other roles where possible," the bank said in a statement supplied to Reuters.