Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, the U.K. bank that agreed to the government's biggest bailout, may eliminate as many as 3,000 jobs in the securities unit, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Edinburgh-based RBS may make cuts representing 15 percent of the division's workforce, said the person, who declined to be identified because the plan hasn't been discussed with labor groups. The reductions will come in the next few months and affect all divisions of the global banking and markets unit, including leveraged loans, asset-backed securities and corporate lending.

``We constantly review our business model to ensure it is aligned to market conditions,'' said RBS investment-bank spokesman Steven Blaney said.

RBS follows New York-based Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in cutting jobs as the financial-services industry shrinks in response to waning client demand. Morgan Stanley said Nov. 12 it plans to fire as many as 10 percent of its institutional securities staff and 9 percent of its asset- management group. Goldman and Citigroup Inc. began firing workers last week as part of plans to cut more than 12,000 jobs.

The workforce reductions were reported earlier today by Dow Jones.

Trade union Unite said it is concern about possible job job cuts, which would have a devastating impact on the RBS workforce worldwide.

RBS took third-quarter markdowns of 1.4 billion pounds ($2.1 billion) pounds before accounting adjustments in the securities unit and may post its first annual loss. The U.K. may own 60 percent of RBS unless investors buy some of the 20 billion pounds of stock it plans to sell this year, in the state's biggest bailout.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Livesey in London blivesey@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 13, 2008 14:42 EST