The sharpest cuts were felt in the hard hit securitization sector where bond volumes have plummeted dramatically as investors shun the market. Just as the securitization exit for real estate lending has evaporated, European real estate valuations have fallen – especially in the UK.
“Like every other bank RBS is making sure that we have the right size teams for the current environment,” an RBS spokesman said. He would not be drawn on the size of specific reductions.
The RBS securitization “family” – as insiders call it – comprises a real estate related group, a corporate risk group and one linked to financial institutions. The real estate group – run by Damian Thompson – has lost 23 out of 34 people according to former members of the team. As yet there have been no reports of any job losses to the financial institutions and corporate securitization teams.
The same cannot be said for the wider real estate team at RBS, however. Stephen Eighteen and Doug Tiesi have let go about 20 of the 100-strong team. Eighteen is head of structured property finance and will become head of credit market origination for Europe, and co-head of global real estate finance too, alongside Mark Finerman in the new RBS organization.