THE STATE-OWNED lender Anglo Irish Bank is to cut up to 230 jobs under a redundancy plan unveiled to staff yesterday and is likely to seek a similar number of job cuts in a larger restructuring over the next two years.
The bank said that the initial redundancies were as a result of the planned reduction in the size of the bank due to “necessary restructuring” and the transfer of €28 billion in loans to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) over the coming months.
The bank is seeking 110 job cuts in its Irish operations, 95 in the UK and 25 in the US and Europe.
The number of employees at the bank will fall by 470 to about 1,300 staff as a result of the first wave of redundancies and the planned transfer of staff to Nama.
Staff numbers have also fallen due to the sale of the bank’s Austrian business and by not replacing employees who have left the bank.
Staff at Anglo Irish Bank remained tight-lipped as they emerged from the headquarters at St Stephen’s Green, Dublin, last evening.
Most workers looked stern but none of them was visibly upset. Many spoke on their mobile phones as they walked out. All refused to make any comment to waiting media on the redundancy announcement.
The redundancies will be offered to staff at all levels, including senior management, and will start next Monday across the bank, including its overseas operations, and conclude in February.
The bank is working on a restructuring plan which has to be submitted for approval to the EU Commission under State aid rules following the Government’s €4 billion cash injection into the bank.
Further State investment in the bank is anticipated following the transfer of the loans to Nama. Anglo must show that it has a viable future or else outline plans to run down the business.
The bank’s new chief executive Mike Aynsley has told staff he believes that the bank has a viable future.
He said in a statement that the bank would “undergo radical change in the coming months”.