Italian banking major UniCredit is set to reach a deal with unions on layoff of approximately 6,000 staff in its home market, Reuters reported citing two sources familiar with the development.
The negotiations with the workers union started nearly two months back.
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The move to retrench people is part of the bank’s new four-year business strategy.
This follows the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak which prompted the bank to close two-thirds of its branches. The pandemic has also forced the bank to halt dividend payments.
Under the plan, out of 6000 layoffs, 5,200 will be voluntary layoffs, which mainly include early retirements, Reuters’ report said.
Around 500 staff had already opted to leave under the previous round of voluntary layoffs.
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By GlobalDataUniCredit will retrain and reassign 800 staffs and hire close to 2,600 new employees under its business plan.
Additionally, reports emerged that close to 7,000 employees are interested in the exit packages.
The bank has been slashing costs and beefing up capital reserves under the leadership of CEO Jean Mustier, who was appointed in 2016.
The bank’s first business plan ‘Transform 2019’ slashed 14,000 jobs while the latest business plan ‘Team 23’ axed 8,000 jobs, mostly in Italy.
Many banks around the world are closing branches and slashing jobs to cut costs and improve margins.
Earlier last month, Allied Irish Bank unveiled plans to axe 15% of staff by 2022.
In February, Danske Bank laid off 230 employees as part of its plan to cut costs and make significant investments in digitisation.
In the same month, Virgin Money closed 52 branches and slashed 500 jobs in restructuring.
