RBS cuts City jobs as credit crunch bites -sources

LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) has cut up to 200 jobs this week in parts of its debt and investment banking units worst affected by the slowdown in financial markets, people familiar with the matter said.

The job cuts at global banking and markets (GBM), RBS's investment bank arm, and ABN AMRO's corresponding business are expected to be mostly in London in areas such as leveraged debt and structured credit, those hit by a global credit crunch.

The losses include cuts in ABN AMRO's wholesale banking business, but reflect the market slowdown rather than due to RBS's integration process. GBM accounts for over a third of the Edinburgh-based bank's profits, and together with ABN's business employs over 28,000 people.

A spokesman for RBS declined to comment on specific job cuts, but acknowledged GBM's structure was under constant review. "Most global financial institutions are reviewing their business in light of market conditions and we are no exception," he said.

London is expected to see about 8,000 financial jobs cut this year due to the slowdown in various business areas and dealmaking in the wake of the U.S. subprime housing crisis and credit crunch, according to Britain's Centre for Economics and Business Research.

Matthew Sherwood, economist at data provider Experian, estimated 10,000 financial jobs in London could be cut this year, but said the number could be double that.

Banks including Citigroup (C.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and UBS (UBSN.VX) are all expected to cut hundreds of jobs.

(Additional reporting by Raissa Kasolowsky and Olesya Dmitracova)

(Reporting by Steve Slater; Editing by Andrew Hurst)