Royal Bank of Scotland has revealed it expects the integration of Direct Line and Churchill to lead to "several hundred" job losses.

by Tristan O'Carroll

Royal Bank of Scotland has revealed it expects the integration of Direct Line and Churchill to lead to "several hundred" job losses.

Royal Bank of Scotland's head of group communications Carolyn McAdam said: "It is too early to specify the timescale of any personnel changes, although it is anticipated that the total number of job losses across Direct Line and Churchill will number several hundred.

"We expect these cuts to feature in the central operations of the companies, specifically in claims and IT. But in terms of customer facing roles we do not envisage any cutbacks at the moment."

McAdam would not outline RBS' plans for Churchill's broker-only insurer NIG, although she said RBS values NIG as a distributor of motor and home insurance, adding that NIG would help expand RBS' presence.

Earlier, RBS chief executive officer Fred Goodwin said the group plans to retain the Churchill brand.

He said: "The plan is for Churchill management to carry on managing Churchill.

"Churchill is stronger in home insurance than Direct Line. It balances up our portfolio very nicely."

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