Royal Bank of Scotland has dismissed as many as 200 staff in its global banking and markets business this week, it emerged yesterday, as the credit crunch continues to take its toll.

The jobs were cut mainly in RBS's leveraged finance, real estate lending and securitisation operations and are thought to have been made as a result of the continued downturn in the global financial markets rather than due to the bank's merger with ABN Amro.

The purchase of the Dutch bank last year in Europe's biggest cross-border takeover had been expected to lead to thousands of job losses at ABN.

A spokesman for RBS refused to comment on changes to its workforce but said: “Most global financial institutions are reviewing their business in light of the current market conditions and we're no exception”.

Most of the cuts are believed to be in London rather than at the group's headquarters in Edinburgh. Global banking and markets accounts for over a third of RBS's profits and, together with ABN's operations, employs more than 28,000 people.

About 8,000 jobs are expected to be shed in the City this year as the financial services sector is hit by the global economic slowdown. JPMorgan is still deciding which parts of Bear Stearns's European business it will retain following its $1.7 billion (£860million) takeover of the stricken bank.

Meanwhile, UBS, which announced $19 billion of further writedowns last week, is expected to cut thousands from its 9,000-strong London workforce.

RBS is considered by analysts to be one of the UK banks most heavily exposed to the credit markets, because of its higher gearing and its exposure to riskier areas such as real estate.

The bank has £65 billion worth of exposure to UK commercial real estate.

Although the bank said at its annual results last month that it did not plan any significant asset sales, analysts at Cazenove said in a note this week that they expected the bank's managers to pursue a number of other small disposals.

Last week RBS sold its European consumer finance business, with assets worth €2.2 billion, to Santander, the Spanish bank. Other businesses the bank could sell include Angel Trains, its stake in Bank of China or Direct Line, the insurer.

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