Royal Bank of Scotland announces 618 more job cuts

State-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland on Tuesday said it planned to axe 618 jobs at its department offering financial advice to customers. The bank, which is 82-percent owned by the government after a huge bailout, added in a company statement that it also planned to create 351 new roles within the group. RBS, which has axed more than 35,000 jobs since the 2008 financial crisis, said the latest cuts were a result of an expected drop in demand for customer financial advice from next year. This was because of a change to legislation resulting in clients having to pay a fee for any advice received in a bid to provide better service and transparency. "As a response to this (change) we will be reducing the number of roles by 618 across (the) UK and creating 351 new roles," the Edinburgh-based banking group added in its statement.