LONDON â€" The insurance unit of the Royal Bank of Scotland plans to cut almost 900 jobs as it looks to reduce costs ahead of an initial public offering.
The unit, Direct Line Insurance Group, which could raise around $4.7 billion in a potential I.P.O later this year, said the layoffs were part of a £100 million ($159 million) annual cost saving plan for the next two years.
The insurer currently has around 15,000 employees.
“We have not made these proposals lightly and fully understand the impact this will have on our people,†Direct Line's chief executive, Paul Geddes, said in a statement.
Regulators are forcing the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is more than 80 percent owned by British taxpayers after receiving a bailout, to dispose of the country's largest auto insurer as part of the deal to receive government money.
The Edinburgh-based bank is also looking to reduce its own headcount, announcing earlier this year that it would cut 3,500 jobs in its investment banking division over the next three years.
