Dutch co-operative bank Rabobank is set to shed almost a fifth of its workforce as it restructures in order to meet new European banking regulations.
Rabobank is one of a number of European banks to have announced stringent job cuts this year, including Deutsche Bank, UBS, Credit Suisse and Barclays. And as has been the case in other examples, the cuts will focus on back-office and operational staff.
The 9,000 job losses represent 19% of the firm's global workforce and come in addition to a further 3,000 redundancies announced earlier this year.
The strategic overhaul is designed to take 22% of its total assets (€150 billion) off the bank's balance sheet by 2020 as part of its plan to comply with new Basel V rules on capital adequacy. Chief executive Wiebe Draijer expects the changes to improve the bank's Common Equity Tier 1 ratio from 14% to 17%.
Rabobank had previously enjoyed an enviable reputation as a rock-solid lender and was the only Dutch bank to emerge from the 2008 financial crisis unscathed.
However this reputation was tarnished in 2013 after the bank admitted involvement in the Libor rigging scandal and was hit with $1 billion in fines.
And in November two former Rabobank traders and British citizens became the first people to be convicted in a US court over the rate-rigging case.