A LEADING Southend bank is axing nearly 70 jobs.

RBS says it will cut 66 jobs in Southend during a "restructuring" of office staff.

A spokesman said: “With RBS becoming a smaller, simpler bank, we’ve been restructuring our back office support so it’s a better fit for our business.

"Unfortunately, these changes will mean some job losses. We realise how difficult this news will be for our staff and we will be offering support to all those affected, including redeploying people in to other positions where possible.”

The bank said the roles are being lost as the bank becomes "smaller and simpler".

Staff were informed yesterday.

The job losses will be phased from now until November.