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05th Aug 2020

Bank of Ireland seeks to cut 1,400 jobs through voluntary redundancy programme

Conor Heneghan

Bank of Ireland

The news comes after the bank reported pre-tax losses of €669 million for the first six months of the year.

Bank of Ireland has announced that is seeking to cut 1,400 jobs as part of a voluntary redundancy programme.

The bank is seeking to lower staff numbers from approximately 10,400 to around 9,000 on the back of pre-tax losses of €669 million for the first six months of 2020.

In a statement to JOE, a Bank of Ireland spokesperson said: “We have launched a Groupwide voluntary redundancy programme to colleagues this morning.

“Into the medium term, we anticipate a headcount of fewer than 9,000 within the Group from our current position of under 10,400, and the voluntary redundancy programme will be an element of that reduction.”

A large portion of the pre-tax losses, Bank of Ireland says, is due to €937 million being put aside to cover losses caused by loan repayment breaks in the wake of the impact of Covid-19.

In an interim report on the first six months of 2020, Bank of Ireland Group Chief Executive Francesca McDonagh said that Covid-19 had a “material impact on financial performance”.

McDonagh added that the bank expects further economic recovery in 2020 and that it is well positioned to “manage remaining uncertainties, including Covid-19 and Brexit”.

“We have strong capital, funding and liquidity while asset quality remains robust, and we have a proven track record of working with our customers to find sustainable solutions,” McDonagh said.

“We are taking actions now to ensure the Group is well positioned to deliver improved and enhanced performance post Covid-19, including further cost reduction below current targets, ongoing digital transformation, and a further restructuring of our UK business to improve returns.

“We are committed to responsibly developing our long term franchises, and to serve our customers brilliantly in a way that delivers attractive, sustainable returns to our shareholders.”

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