UK: Banking group warns of 350 job cuts
British Banking group Alliance & Leicester warned today that a reduction in paperwork at its back-office operation would cost 350 jobs this year.
The posts will be lost through voluntary redundancies at Bootle on Merseyside, where the group employs 2,000 people out of an 8,500-strong workforce.
Alliance said efficiency improvements and automation meant UK-based call centre staff could resolve a higher proportion of retail and commercial bank inquiries, rather than to passing them on to back office staff.
The move to reduce paper-based processing will help Alliance meet a target for a cost-to-income ratio below 50% by 2010, against 56.9% last year.
The cost drive has benefited from a strategy to harness the increased popularity of telephone and internet banking.
Chief executive Richard Pym said: “We are transforming Alliance & Leicester into the UK’s leading direct bank. This requires modern, efficient banking processes across the group.”
He said the Bootle operation would continue to be an “integral and important” part of Alliance & Leicester.
