ACC Bank, owned by Rabobank Group, is to cut 200 Irish jobs and close 16 branches, it said this week.
The bank said it is making the cuts "to protect its business in the current economic environment and position it for the return of growth to the market".
The 200 job losses will occur at both the bank's head office in Dublin and across the branch network, with the 16 branches closing on a progressive basis between October 2009 and April 2010.
The remaining nine business centres will be at Cork, Dublin, Drogheda, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, Mullingar, Sligo, and Waterford. The bank will restructure other roles and introduce a severance package and staff are expected to begin leaving the organisation from July.
Chief executive, Rob Hartog told staff that the global financial crisis, sharp deterioration in the Irish economy and collapse of the Irish property market had severely impacted ACC Bank's financial performance in 2008.
This had necessitated swift action to manage the risks in ACC Bank's loan portfolio over the next 12 months, and reduce both payroll and non-payroll costs by a minimum of 30 pr cent per annum, he said.
""We are in volatile times with global financial systems in a period of radical change, and the broader Irish economy unlikely to recover for at least another two years. These measures reflect the need to prioritise where we use our skilled resources at this time, and our anticipation that 2009/2010 will continue to be difficult," Mr Hartog said.
