Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2004/12/21/abn_amro_job_cuts/

ABN Amro slashes IT workforce

One in four techies to lose jobs

By John Leyden

Posted in On-Prem, 21st December 2004 18:53 GMT

IT workers will be hit particularly hard by proposed job cuts at ABN Amro. A quarter - 1,200 out of 5,000 full time IT workers at the bank - will lose their jobs over the next 18 months under a proposed restructuring plan.

The 1,200 lost IT jobs (achieved through consolidation, partial outsourcing and offshoring) make up a total of 2,850 jobs the Dutch-based bank is hoping to shed as part of plans to save €770m per year from 2007 onwards. "Depending on the extent to which we choose outsourcing as a solution for certain activities, we anticipate that an additional number of staff will be transferred to other employers in the future," the bank said.

ABN Amro also intends to lose 1,100 jobs at its investment banking and corporate lending business, which along with IT will bear the brunt of the job cuts. In the group as a whole around 3 per cent of workers will be forced to look for work elsewhere.

ABN Amro will take a one-off charge of €530m this year in implementing these cuts. The company says its profit forecast is unaffected by its job cuts announcement. The bank began telling staff about the likely impact of the cuts last week. The restructuring is designed to stem a decline in operating profit at the bank that is been felt across the banking industry.

Deutsche Bank AG and Credit Suisse Group also announced job cuts earlier this month, Bloomberg reports. A drop in US mortgage revenues due to higher interest rates has compounded the problems ABN Amro faces in a difficult market, it adds. ®

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