Dutch lender Rabobank said it plans to cut more than 1,200 jobs in areas such as IT at its head office, seeking cost savings of €219 million over the next two years.
No job cuts were planned at Rabobank International, the bank's wholesale banking and international retail banking division, and no efficiency review was scheduled for that part of the bank's business, spokeswoman Manel Vrijenhoek said.
Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse are set to announce thousands of fresh job cuts as they face falling trading volumes and rising costs, a Swiss newspaper reported yesterday.
Unlike its main Dutch rivals ABN AMRO and ING Group , Rabobank did not need state aid during the 2008 credit crisis, did not make a loss during that period, and is one of the few banks with a triple A credit rating.
But Rabobank, which employs about 59,000 people worldwide, said it wanted to improve efficiency at its Utrecht headquarters, which has been extended with a new complex in the centre of the university town.
The Rabobank job cuts were not related to falling sales or economic uncertainty, said Ms Vrijenhoek.
"We have to watch our efficiencies. On a long-term basis and in view of our competitive position, are we still working as efficiently as possible? This is a normal review," she said.
"The business activities are mainly done by the local branches. This addresses purely the head office which supports the local branches."
Rabobank plans to cut 376, or 6 per cent, out of a total of 6,400 permanent jobs at its headquarters and about 850 contract positions will be cut in 2012 and 2013, mainly through attrition although lay-offs are possible, she said.
A "considerable" number of the job cuts will be in IT positions, but the bank declined to give more details saying the matter still needed to be discussed internally with employee groups.
Reuters
