RBS is set to reduce the secondee requirements it places on its panel firms when the bank reviews its main roster of legal advisers later this year.

It is understood that RBS has already slashed its demands for secondees from firms on its panel by around 25% since the current roster came into effect on 1 January 2013.

One banking partner said: "There was a broad acceptance that the secondee requirements were far too much of a strain on relationships… The sheer cash implications to the law firms meant they were reluctant to invest elsewhere."

Another finance partner said RBS was also looking to spread the burden of providing secondees more fairly across its panel firms as part of the review.

Banking partners said the bank can currently request around 10 secondees at a time from firms on its roster.

Sources close to RBS said it was now common practice for secondments to last no longer than six months except in exceptional circumstances, such as to cover parental leave or illness.

As Legal Week reported in November, the bank is also looking to reduce the number of firms on its panel as part of the review.

Meanwhile, one banking partner expected firms on RBS's roster to be asked to cut back the amount they spend on marketing their services to the bank in line with a drive by recently appointed chief legal officer John Collins to reduce RBS's own marketing spending.

An RBS spokesperson declined to comment on the panel process, but confirmed that the new line-up was still on track to be in place by 1 January 2016.

As Legal Week reported last month, the bank has delayed sending out tender documents for the roster, which had been set to go out in the first quarter of this year.