The decision by Royal Bank of Scotland to shed 3,000 jobs is sad news but should surprise no one. The bank made it plain a month ago when it announced plans to raise £20 billion of rescue capital that it was going to scale back its investment banking operations drastically.

The price of having that deal underwritten by British taxpayers was that RBS had to pull back from the creation and trading of complex, fancy debt securities business that have proved so noxious to itself and the wider global economy.

If there is a surprise, it is that only 3,000 jobs out of the divisional headcount of 20,000 are to go. Almost every investment bank is in sacking mode, with Citigroup ousting another 10,000 yesterday. If even Goldman Sachs is hacking back by 10 per cent, hapless RBS staff are getting off lightly with a 15 per cent cull.

In fact, this is only the first stage of a more painful restructuring. New broom Stephen Hester hasn’t even arrived yet and many more jobs are likely to go once he completes his strategic review.

In a conventional private company, that would pose problems enough. But RBS is anything but conventional: its shares yesterday closed at just 51p, well below the 65.5p underwritten rights issue price, which suggests existing shareholders are not going to pump in any more money.

Who can blame them? It is only a few months since they were persuaded to subscribe for new shares at 200p in a previous £12 billion fundraising which proved utterly inadequate.

All the signs are, therefore, that HMG is going to have to stump up the entire £20 billion, after which it will be the owner of 58 per cent of the company.

For a state-controlled enterprise to be sacking staff now may be politically acceptable, especially since the victims are mostly unloved investment bankers. But in a year’s time, with the unemployment number perhaps heading towards 3 million, sackings of ordinary bank staff will be harder for ministers to stomach.

UK Financial Investments, the new body which will hold the Government’s stakes in British banks, says that its “overarching objective” is to protect and create value for taxpayers. Jobs are immaterial. With £500 billion of public money at risk, that unsentimental philosophy has to be right. But it will be tested sorely before this recession is over.

Times Recommends

• Gazprom brands Ukraine 'a barbarian' in gas row
• Services sector raises fears over UK jobless
• Retailers surge as profits survive sales plunge