Danish lender Danske is reportedly planning to shift jobs away from its home markets in Scandinavia to cheaper markets like Lithuania and India.

This is another major decision by Danske as part its cost-cutting initiative along with its earlier decision to cut 1600 positions as part of its 2023 cost-cutting plan.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Danske CEO Chris Vogelzang said: “A lot of our cost base is of course people. Lithuania and India are examples of countries Danske can use to move business or activity from A to B.”

Danske declined to provide a specific number of positions that could be moved.

Vogelzang has promised more cost cuts to meet the Danske’s financial targets. He unveiled a return on equity of just 2.6% for 2020 in the fourth quarter, compared to 9-10%, which he has promised shareholders they will reach by 2023.

Earlier in November, 257 jobs were trimmed as part of a cost-cutting plan announced in October 2020.

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So far Danske has slashed 700 of the 1600 positions based in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

Vogelzang remarked that he cannot rule out further job cuts beyond the earlier programme.

These cost-cutting measures by Danske are significant amid the ongoing investigations into the allegations of money laundering and the impact of negative interest rates.

Compliance is the only Danske’s unit, which is hiring now, and Vogelzang says: “if you look at the rest of the organisation, the numbers are actually going down.”