Dutch banking and insurance group ING announced another 2,400 job cuts, in the Netherlands and Belgium, as it prepares to separate its banking and insurance operations against a backdrop of tough financial markets.
Several European banks including Deutsche Bank and Swiss bank UBS have also shed staff in recent months in a reassessment of their businesses after the financial crisis.
The latest round of layoffs at ING follows a similar announcement as recently as November and brings the cuts in the past 15 months to 7,500 or roughly 9 per cent of the Dutch group's total headcount at the end of December.
ING on Wednesday reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter net profit of €1.434 billion, up 21 per cent from a year ago thanks to gains from divestments.
But underlying pre-tax profit for the banking operations was €184 million, down 72 per cent from a year ago, while the insurance unit turned from a loss of €1.51bn to an underlying pre-tax profit of €272m.
* Reuters
