News

For UNI Finance, the financial markets are putting too much pressure on banks to reach unrealistic targets and cut labour costs, while the economy is still recovering from the crisis, especially in Europe. In its two recent reports, “Coining it in” and the “Job Loss Survey”, UNI Finance clearly showed that most banks are still making very high profits but decide to cut jobs to respond to the increasing pressure from shareholders.

UniCredit plans to cut 1,000 jobs at its German unit HvB by 2014 as it seeks to slim down its retail operations and make cost savings.

The planned reduction in headcount is yet to be finalised as the bank, Italy’s largest by assets, is still in negotiations with unions in Germany, said people familiar with the matter. In total, about 600 jobs will be cut in 2013 with the remainder to be cut next year. As part of the restructuring, HvB will close about 45 branches of its private banking retail business.

The job cuts by one of Germany’s biggest banks come as the banking industry across Europe is slashing headcount.

Lloyds Banking Group said on Wednesday it was shedding nearly 1,000 jobs across the UK, taking the total job losses announced by the state-backed lender this month to more than 1,300.

The news comes a day after it was reported that Barclays is looking to cut up to 2,000 jobs in its investment bank as a part of a strategic overhaul by its chief executive Antony Jenkins.

But cuts at the Barclays investment bank pale in comparison with the drastic steps taken by its Switzerland-based rival UBS, which will wind down a large part of its fixed income trading and cut 10,000 jobs in the process.

Investment banks in particular are trying to cut their headcount as they struggle to improve profitability amid stagnant economic growth and stricter capital rules.



Unite has expressed fury over Lloyds Banking Group's decision to slash another 940 jobs today cross the company, the third announcement from the company in just days, bringing the total to 1,300 job cuts.



Lloyds Banking Group has cut over 31,000 jobs since its creation in 2009. The bank announced it was cutting nearly 200 jobs in human resources and last week the company cut a further 175 jobs in the Halifax branch network.



Unite is outraged that the bank which is 41 per cent owned by the public is offshoring 190 IT jobs as part of today's announcement.



Unite national officer, Dominic Hook said: "Since 2009 Lloyds has slashed a quarter of its workforce. It is a complete disgrace that the bank, which is 41 per cent owned by the taxpayer, continues to cut jobs in such a cavalier way.



"The bank is even offshoring another 200 IT jobs. In the middle of an economic crisis, a bank part- owned by the public, should be keeping jobs in the UK, not exporting them abroad. Unite is calling for an urgent meeting with UKFI to demand Lloyds stops offshoring and cutting jobs within the group.



"Unite has warned Lloyds Banking Group that if they are looking for a period of stability and growth to return it to profitability, this cannot and will not be achieved by continuous and damaging job cuts. Unite opposes these cuts and will be doing everything possible to stop compulsory redundancies."