by Calculated Risk on 1/24/2009 06:42:00 PM

From The Times: RBS to purge directors in big shake-up

The Sunday Times can reveal RBS is preparing to place £50 billion to £100 billion of loans into the government’s new bank-insurance scheme ... designed to protect RBS from significant further losses and allow it to restart lending to British companies.

The move comes as [new chief executive Stephen] Hester puts the finishing touches to a radical restructuring. As many as 30,000 jobs, out of 170,000, could go in the next three to five years ...

RBS, which has more than £2 trillion of assets, is being used as a guinea pig for the government’s loss insurance rescue scheme.

This is similar to the insurance plan the U.S. provided for Citigroup and Bank of America. RBS will take the first 10% of losses on the loans and the U.K. taxpayers are on the hook for any additional losses.