RBS makes more ominous noises about moving out of Edinburgh, with the potential loss of 14,000 jobs

We've been here before. And now, unfortunately, we are here again - except this time, things seem to have become worse.

Last time we looked at RBS's threats to pull its head office out of Scotland in the event of Scottish independence, 3,000 job losses were mooted.

Yesterday, the Times suggested the number of Scottish jobs at risk in the event of a wholesale relocation could be a lot higher: more like 14,000.

Is a move out of Scotland for RBS really likely? The Times points out that an independent Scottish government would have, at best, 10% of the financial firepower of a UK government. It would therefore be in no real position to guarantee RBS, which made a £1.4bn loss in the first quarter and continues to enjoy the protection of the UK government's asset protection scheme, in which it still has £121bn of toxic assets (although it intends to exit these in the fourth quarter of 2012).

Speaking at this week's RBS annual meeting, chairman Philip Hampton didn't exactly say RBS would locate if Scotland secedes. He merely intimated it, saying RBS was: “keeping track of the independence debate”, and that, "There has always been a link between the financial strength of an institution and its domicile — that’s why large institutions tend to be in large economies.”