SCOTS BANK PLANS TO AXE 15,000 MORE JOBS; Just days after [pounds sterling]34bn taxpayer bail-out and a pledge to keep huge bonuses for bosses...

Byline: Lucy Farndon Deputy City Editor

THE Royal Bank of Scotland is poised to axe a further 15,000 jobs - despite refusing to cut huge bonuses for its most highly-paid staff.

The state-owned bank yesterday revealed a new spate of job cuts on top of 20,000 redundancies already announced. The news leaves the fate of thousands of families hanging in the balance in the run-up to Christmas.

It comes in the week the Government agreed to spend a further [pounds sterling]33.5billion of taxpayers' cash to keep the bank afloat, bringing the RBS bail-out cost to more than [pounds sterling]50billion.

The planned job cuts are even more controversial because RBS is insisting on paying millions in share bonuses to its top traders, many of whom are blamed for bringing the bank to its knees.

F i g u r e s r e l e a s e d by t h e Edinburgh-based bank yesterday suggest its 20,000 investment bankers will earn an average of [pounds sterling]152,000 each in pay and bonus for this year. Its high flyers will see their packages run into the millions .

Rob MacGregor, of union Unite, said: 'Unite finds the suggestion by RBS that there may be thousands of more job losses from this state-owned bank unacceptable.' He added: 'As taxpayers we have all watched as billions of pounds have been spent on propping up RBS, and we deserve more for our money.

'Unite is appalled that staff at RBS continue to pay the price for the failure of greedy City financiers and speculators.' RBS chief executive Stephen Hester argues he needs to strip out costs to return the bank to profitability, in order to pay back the Government for the bail-out .

But unions are incensed that, while Britain as a whole is having to finance the activities of RBS, the bank is causing further misery among staff by sacking workers ahead of the festive season.

Since the onset of the credit crisis, RBS has cut 16,000 jobs, the lion's share of which were in Britain. This week, it announced. a further 3,700 UK staff would go, bringing losses to almost 20,000.

Yesterday Mr Hester signalled that thousands more jobs would have to go. Attempting to put a positive spin on the cuts, he said: 'We are well over halfway through what we have to do.'

However, analysts understand that his reference to 'more than halfway' would indicate that RBS could still slash 10,000 to 15,000 more jobs.

Mr Hester refused to deny thousands more jobs would go, saying merely: 'I have been adamant that the first people to hear are my staff.'

The bank has agreed to abide by government rules that none of its investment bankers will get a cash bonus. Even so, hundreds could be handed share packages worth millions of pounds. Some of their shares could be cashed in as early as next year.

LibDem Treasury spokesman Lord Oakeshott said: 'Royal Bank's loyal staff have to carry the can but its bonus boys around the world can pocket millions as soon as June.' RBS lost [pounds sterling]1.5billion in the third quarter of 2009, compared to a [pounds sterling]2.3billion profit in the same period a year ago. Yet it showed little restraint on pay.

Its quarterly accounts show the bank set aside [pounds sterling]2.8billion for the quarter to pay salaries, pensions and bonuses to its 160,000 employees. Most work in low-paid back office jobs and who will earn nothing like the amounts given to investment bankers.

Mr Hester insisted RBS will pay out a smaller slice of its profits to its traders than rival banks which are not state-owned .

Research from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) think-tank suggests that total City bonuses for 2009 are likely to be 50 per cent higher than those handed out in 2008.

This suggests bankers are showing little restraint despite the Government committing [pounds sterling]1.5trillion in support for the industry. CEBR believes a total of [pounds sterling]6billion will be paid out in City bonuses for this year.