RBS follows crowd to fast-track investment banking juniors

The move means the Edinburgh-based bank has followed other investment banks in providing such incentives after Goldman Sachs announced it was promoting its analysts to associate after two years in November.

Barclays, meanwhile, promoted its class of 2013 to associate last year – a year ahead of schedule – and Credit Suisse said it was fast-tracking its analysts in February.

Deutsche Bank, Citi and UBS all have similar programmes.

Under RBS’s new scheme, a rotational programme for its analysts means that any new recruits are given the chance to work in four divisions over the course of two years worth of training.

Pass this, and they’re automatically bumped up to associate – a year ahead of the regular schedule.

The new programme has been rolled out to new graduates joining RBS’s investment bank in the current recruitment year.

RBS brings in one pool of analysts in September – in line with other investment banks – but also hires new graduates in a second intake in April.

A spokesperson for RBS said that the promotions are dependent on “excellent performance and demonstrating great behaviours”.

They added: “This is competitive in the market place, and we are confident that this is the right thing to do, based on the rigour of our assessment, training and performance management.”