Ailing Abbey National is preparing to cut 3,000 jobs or 10 per cent of its workforce as part of a cost-cutting plan designed to restore the bank's fortunes, the Timesnewspaper has reported.
The newspaper said the job cuts would come under two cost-cutting programmes aimed at shrinking the bank's back-office administrative staff and at outsourcing much of its information-technology operations, also resulting in job losses.
An Abbey spokesman confirmed the bank was looking hard at cutting operational costs but denied it had come up with a number for job losses.
"It's just not a number that exists at the moment," he said. Abbey reported a dramatic slump in half-year earnings in July, which cost Chief Executive Ian Harley his job.
The bank, hit by rising bad loans at its corporate lending unit after a US economic downturn, said at the time it would focus on its core mortgage business and cut costs.
Abbey shares closed at 650-1/2 pence on Friday, down 43 percent from its 2002 peak.
Abbey's poor performance has drawn speculation it might be vulnerable to a takeover. It escaped a hostile bid from UK rival Lloyds TSB last year after the government blocked it on competition grounds.