Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) intends to halve the amount it spends on sports sponsorship by 2010 in a bid to cut costs, after reporting a loss of £24.1bn in 2008, the largest in UK corporate history.

The company has already revealed that it will part company with the Williams Formula One motor racing team when the current three-year agreement ends in 2010, while all trackside advertising in 2010 has been withdrawn. In addition to the decision to pull out of Formula One, RBS is to review all other sponsorship deals, including agreements with tennis player Andy Murray, equestrienne Zara Phillips and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

However, its sponsorship of Rugby Union's Six Nations Championship is thought to be unaffected, with a four-year extension to the current deal, worth £20m, signed only last month. Andrew McLaughlin, RBS group director, said: "We recognise that we are now operating in a very different economic environment and have been reviewing all of our activities since October.

"It is imperative that we respond to the reality of the situation we face and that we do so in an orderly way that respects the commercial agreements we have in place and the implications for our partners and the jobs they support." Williams is now the third team to fall victim to the global economic crisis, with Dutch bank ING recently announcing it will no longer sponsor the Renault team. The Japanese team, Honda, has been forced to withdraw altogether.