STATE-OWNED Anglo Irish Bank has reduced the number of credit cards held by executives and managers to cover out-of-pocket expenses from 330 to about 20.
Almost one-fifth of Anglo’s staff had credit cards issued by the bank to cover expenses when the bank employed about 1,800 staff at its peak. Staff numbers have since been reduced to about 1,200, following the company’s redundancy programme and as a result of staff leaving voluntarily outside the job-cutting programme.
About 800 long-serving Anglo staff have left the bank over the past two years, while the bank has hired about 200 employees to fill roles vacated by key personnel.
The sharp reduction in the number of credit cards is part of a cost-cutting programme undertaken by the bank’s chief financial officer Maarten van Eden and the new management team.
The number of staff credit cards is being assessed and cards are being rescinded unless employees require them for extensive travel and show they are necessary.
Anglo reduced recurring operating expenses on an annualised basis by 18 per cent, or €58 million, last year, according to the bank’s report for the 15 months to the end of December 2009, while staff costs fell by €61 million or 33 per cent on an annualised basis.
