ING will be cutting its Dutch workforce by 1,700 full-time equivalents (FTEs) over a three-year period in a bid to refocus its retail business.
The job cuts are expected to yield annual gross savings of approximately $336.5 million (€270 million) starting in 2018, say bank officials. The cost of the layoffs will require a pre-tax provision of $398.8 million (€320 million) for the fourth quarter of 2014.
ING, which has approximately 53,000 employees, will also cut the number of “positions employed by external suppliers by 1,075,” bank officials say.
The cuts are part of an attempt to “improve the customer experience and enhance operational excellence,” say ING officials in a prepared statement. The global institution expand digital banking, “strengthen local advisory capabilities in the branch network,” and will lead to more IT investment for the Dutch retail banking unit. These measures follow earlier initiatives in 2011 and 2012, officials add.
ING will be embracing “an omni-channel” approach to IT systems for mobile apps, websites, call center and branches that will lead to information being available across all channels, officials say. To support the new approach, ING will make further IT investments, intended to yield a “more simplified IT landscape with standardized IT systems and highly automated processes,” officials say.
The further digitization of ING’s banking services, fewer IT systems and more automated processes will lead to the staff cuts, “mostly at the headquarters of ING Retail Banking and in the back offices, call centers and IT departments,” bank officials add.
“Unfortunately, the more efficient way of working will impact many of our employees,” says Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING Group. “We will do our utmost to build on our track record of helping the employees affected to find new job opportunities.”
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