Ireland has again fallen victim to Royal Bank of Scotland’s wildly swinging axe, after the bank revealed it cutting 108 jobs within its asset financing unit, Lombard.

RBS has deemed the division “non-core”. This follows job cuts at Ulster Bank and mortgage lender First Active, both arms of the Scottish bank, over the last year.

84 of the redundancies will hit the Republic of Ireland, with the remaining 24 positions going from its Northern Irish Branch. It employs 185 people in total.

Lombard has decided to provide asset finance director to the Irish market on a business to business basis, rather than going through dealer networks.

It’s hoping to soften the blow by creating 17 jobs across Ireland in its new capacity. Lombard would also like to keep the redundancies voluntary and redeploy employees wherever possible.

This holds little water with the Irish Bank Officials Association, however, which hasn’t failed to notice that the announcement isn’t in-keeping with the time of year.

“Our members in Dublin and Belfast are shocked by this announcement – especially so close to the festive season,” said IBOA general secretary Larry Broderick.

“The Lombard announcement is further evidence of the continuing haemorrhage in the financial services sector in Ireland,” he adds.