RBS is planning to axe a further 900 jobs, taking the workforce cuts over the past four months to about five per cent of its overall staff.

Posts in Edinburgh – where the bank has its headquarters – London, Manchester and Birmingham will be among those affected.

They will be lost in IT and back office positions that support the commercial, retail and private bank, the sources said.

It comes in the midst of a major restructuring aimed at returning the bank to profit after eight straight years of losses. The bank was rescued with a £46 billion state bailout during the 2007-09 financial crisis.

The bank 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 we will be offering as much support as we can, including redeployment to other roles,” the bank said.