The latest losses come just weeks after the bank, majority-owned by the government, outlined plans to axe 3500 back office support and technology jobs.

According to Bloomberg, RBS has now cut 26,000 positions, 12% of its total workforce, since the beginning of the financial crisis.

The bank says it needs to "make efficiencies" across the business and it will offer redeployment to staff where possible, keeping compulsory redundancies to "an absolute minimum".