File photo taken on March 21, 2009 shows a woman walking past a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in London, Britain. RBS said on April 7 that it might cut up to 9,000 jobs over the next two years, including 4,500 in the UK, in order to reduce cost. [Xinhua]

The Royal Bank of Scotland decided Tuesday to eliminate an additional 9,000 jobs, half of them in Britain, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported.

The job cuts were believed to be mainly in such divisions as document processing, information technology, procurement and bank property, according to the BBC.

The job cuts were on top of 2,700 job losses already announced by the RBS in Britain this year, the BBC reported

Group Manufacturing is the biggest single part of the troubled financial giant, employing 45,000 people worldwide at a cost of 1.2 billion pounds (about US$1.78 billion) last year.

Of the 45,000 Group Manufacturing staff, 27,000 work in Britain.

The British hub of Group Manufacturing is in Edinburgh, where the group is also headquartered, with other significant employment centers, including NatWest, London, Manchester and Bristol.

It is likely that the announcement will be the largest single batch of job eliminations as the company seeks 2.5 billion pounds (about US$3.7 billion) in cuts in its cost base over the next two years.

The whole company employs more than 170,000 people, 106,000 of whom work in Britain.

(China Daily April 8, 2009)