McEwan was quoted by Financial Times as saying that in order to focus resources on its branches, restructuring work in the head office was the only way, while not affecting the staff that works directly with customers.
"This is clearly difficult news for our staff and we will do everything we can to support them, including seeking redeployment opportunities wherever possible to ensure compulsory redundancies are a last resort," McEwan added.
Spread over the next two years, the latest job cuts follows the recent additional £450m investments announced by the bank to upgrade its IT infrastructure.
Around 37,500 jobs have been shed since the end of 2008 by the bank, which received a £45bn taxpayer bailout during the peak of the financial crisis.
The cuts are also part of the requirements laid by the UK government on the 82% taxpayer-owned bank to concentrate on retail banking and small businesses lending in its domestic market.
