Anger at 250 bank job cuts
Issued : 8 August 2009
Irish News
Banking unions voiced dismay last night at Ulster Bank plans to axe another 250 staff across its Irish operations.
The bank revelaed plans to make another 250 workers redundant – 195 in the Republic and 55 in the north – bringing the total number of job losses this year to 1,000.
The news came as Ulster Bank revealed a loss of £8 million (€9.35 million) in the first six months of this year.
The Irish Bank Officials' Association (IBOA) said it was "profoundly disappointing" there were to be more redundancies given that the earlier rationsaliation programme involving 750 job losses had yet to be completed,
It is understood that the new round of redundancies will come in the bank's corporate markets and central services divisions and will not have a major impact on its branch network (the Ulster has 132 banks in the Republic and 92 in the north).
"The bank has given us an undertaking that all job losses will be implemented on a voluntary basis and on the same terms as the programme for 750 redundancies which is already under way. But we will be seeking an early meeting with the RBS chief executive Stephen Hester in order to copper-fasten this commitment," IBOA General Secretary Larry Broderick said.
"We intend to seek similar re-assurances from other banks operating here but headquartered outside Ireland."
Ulster Bank chief executive Cormac McCarthy siad he was "confident" the job cuts would be achieved on a voluntary basis.
The bank's £8 million loss came after a jump in loan losses to £157 million, with £107 million relating to business loans.
Profit wiped out by those impairment charges fell to £149 million from £190 million a year ago.
Impaired loans as a percentage of total loans rose from 0.1 per cent a year ago to 0.8 per cent and the bank said they were expected to rise in the second half of the year.
In the first half of the year the Ulster said its total lending to customers was flat with mortgage lending up 2 per cent but deposits down 17 per cent to £18.9 billion.
Mr. McCarthy described the bank's figures as "busy and complicated" and siad they had been "severely affected by economic conditions across the island of Ireland".
"It is fair to say in common with what we have seen generally in the banking sector in Ireland as a whole the economic fundamentals are having an impact," he said.
"Obviously there has been a big exposure in banking to property and that has suffered greatly and tht is reflected in our numbers.
"Economic activity is also down so there is pressure on income and margins as well - so it is across the board and reflected in the economics in play in the island."
Ulster Bankis part of the partially nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland which as a group edged back into the black yesterday with a £15 million profit for the first half of 2009.
The profit at the bank, which is 70 per cent owned by the taxpayer after a £20 billiobn bailout, came despite bad debts and writedowms soaring to £7.5 billion.
Chief executive Stephen Hester, who has been charged with the turnaround of the troubled bank, said it has been a "momentous" six months for the business.
Gary McDonald
Business Editor
