Ulster Bank and Hewlett Packard cuts could total 1,000 job lossses

Announcements of further branch closures by Ulster Bank yesterday along with the loss of a call centre contract by Hewlett-Packard could lead to up to 1,000 jobs being lost over the next 18 months.

Ulster Bank, which announced the closure of 22 branches earlier this year, yesterday announced its intention to close up to 40 more in its plan to become a “smaller, lower-cost and profitable bank”.

The bank, which announced 950 job losses in January 2012, said a further 350 positions will be lost as a result of the decision to close more branches but these would be achieved through natural attrition. Other sources speculated up to 850 positions could be lost, by way of natural attrition, under the development.

Of the 900 job losses announced in January 2012 , 600 were in the Republic. The bank was not in a position yesterday to say how many of the new job losses would be in Northern Ireland, and how many in the Republic.

The closure of the additional branches will leave the bank with 180 outlets both sides of the Border. The closures will be mainly in rural areas.

The remaining branches will be focused on urban centres and with reduced staff. The bank said it will invest in its internet service to increase online usage.

Up to 280 jobs at Hewlett-Packard Ireland are to go after the company lost a contract with a major client. The move will mean the closure of a support facility in Sandyford, Co Dublin, which provides multilingual support services, with the loss of 220 HP jobs and 60 contractors.

Support services
The client, understood to be Barclaycard, is moving its support services closer to its customers in Portugal and Italy. The contract with HP Ireland will end on March 31st, 2014.

A spokeswoman for HP said the company would try to redeploy employees. Staff at the facility were solely employed to provide support for Barclaycard. HP could also seek another function for the call centre.

HP employs approximately 4,000 people in Ireland. It said would continue to add to staff and build a new facility at its site in Ballybrit, Galway.

Exchequer figures released yesterday show the Government’s revenue and expenditure figures remained on target up to the end of June.