Staff may be offered jobs elsewhere in the group

Coutts Offshore, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, is pulling out of Guernsey.

A restructuring of operations means its work is now being transferred to Jersey, the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands.

However Mr Roper said there was no indication the bulk of Guernsey's offshore finance sector was in for a rough ride.

He said: "These other sites have existing large operations.

"If you want to consolidate and you have a whole lot of other operations, including Bermuda in the case of Coutts, you tend to concentrate where you have the biggest lumps."

Coutts has had a presence in Guernsey since the 1960s.

It is understood that the private banking, support and administration staff could be offered jobs elsewhere within the group.