EDINBURGH and PROVIDENCE – Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (NYSE: RBS), the parent company of Providence-based Citizens Financial Group Inc., is considering eliminating as many as 3,000 jobs from its global banking and markets unit, two news services are reporting.

Bloomberg News said the cuts would represent about 15 percent of the work force in RBS’ securities unit.

The possible job cuts were first reported today by Dow Jones News Service. Both reports cited unnamed sources with knowledge to the plans.

The layoffs would take place over the next few months, and would include divisions that handle leveraged loans, asset-backed securities and corporate lending, Bloomberg News reported.

The news comes just weeks after RBS said it will take a $327.1 million write-down in the third quarter – a figure that could have been worse if not for new accounting rules that allow the company to treat some assets as long-term investments. (READ MORE)

At the time, the bank said that “significant risks” remain, so executives could not accurately forecast the results for the last half of 2008. But they did say that steps the bank was taking to reduce risk on its balance sheet and a possible reduction in goodwill could hurt results.

RBS had recently launched an effort to raise $31.2 billion in new capital, mostly through the issuance of new shares. It also accepted a cash infusion of 20 billion pounds ($34.5 billion) this fall in the British government’s bank rescue scheme. (READ MORE)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. – a division of the Edinburgh-based Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc. (London Stock Exchange: RBS.L; NYSE: RBS) – is a commercial bank holding company with about 25,000 employees nationwide at 1,600 Citizens Bank and Charter One branches in 13 states plus non-branch offices in about 40 states. Additional information is available at CitizensBank.com or www.rbs.com.