The Royal Bank of Scotland has announced yet another round of job cuts in Bristol. 

The bank, which is 83 per cent owned by the tax payer, revealed it is closing one of its offices in the city as part of a nationwide cost cutting drive which will see 3,500 posts axed.

The news, which has been described as a horror story by union leaders, comes just days after the bank announced around 500 jobs will go in Bristol with the closure of two Direct Lane offices.

Even though the bank announced profits of £1 billion last month it is still planning to add to 20,000 redundancies since it was rescued by the Government.

RBS said the latest job losses would go across back office and IT functions in the business services arm and the plan is to close 12 business service centres including Bristol.

Trade union Unite described the announcement as a "horror story". Rob MacGregor, Unite national officer, said it would be a particularly "bitter pill for staff to swallow" as RBS has decided to move 500 of the jobs offshore to the Far East, India and America.

He said: "The scale of the cuts announced today beggars belief and staff across the country today will be left reeling from this news.

"Just three weeks ago staff were boosted to hear off the £1.1billion half-year profit. Yet today thousands of them are told that they have no future at the bank."

RBS said around a third of the latest job cuts come as a direct result of the sale of 318 branches to Santander, which it was ordered to offload by the European Commission.

RBS said: "Having to cut jobs is the most difficult part of our work to rebuild RBS and repay taxpayers for their support.

"We continue to make efficiencies across our business and adjust our plans in line with the divestments we have been required to make by the European Union."