Four thousand five hundred jobs will be lost in the UK as part of a shake-up of the Scottish bank's manufacturing division, which currently employs 45,000 people in back office operations, purchasing, IT and property management.

The bank says it hopes to keep compulsory redundancies to a minimum thanks to natural wastage, a freeze on the use of agency staff and voluntary retirement programmes.

News of the latest round of cuts comes as the UK Government raises its stake in the embattled bank to 70%, as institutional investors shunned a £5 billion share issue today.

Speaking at the bank's AGM last week, Philip Hampton, RBS chairman foreshadowed today's announcement: "In the UK this year so far we have announced around 2,700 posts will go. We can only be honest and say that this will not be the end of the story and more are expected in the UK and internationally in the period ahead."

Finance sector union Unite described the news as "truly devastating".

"Unite is appalled that thousands of people, who form the backbone of the RBS operations, are to be made redundant," says Rob MacGregor, Unite national officer. "These employees are totally blameless for the current position which RBS is in, yet they are paying for the mistakes at the top of the bank."