Dutch banking group ING is cutting 500 jobs and outsourcing a further 2200 positions at its operations and IT division in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Furthermore, ING says it will not extend contracts for about 1400 external staff at the unit, with 550 of these contracts already ended.
In a statement, the bank says it expects the restructuring to produce annual cost savings of about EUR190 million as of 2008. It will record non-recurrent costs of EUR120 million until then.
The latest job cuts are on top of the 450 IT redundancies the bank announced in July, which are expected to result in an annual saving of EUR39 million.
The bank is reportedly in negotiations with potential partners to outsource the 2200 positions, but specific details were not disclosed.
Eli Leenaars, executive board member ING Group responsible for operations & IT and retail banking, says: "Both sourcing and streamlining fit in ING's strategy of continually looking for ways to reduce costs and improve efficiency to preserve its competitive position, particularly in the mature Benelux market."