Job losses in banks could hit 10,000 in next six months, warns union chief

THE NUMBER of jobs lost in Irish banks since 2009 could hit 10,000 over the next six months, the industry’s biggest trade union warned yesterday.

Irish banks will axe up to 10,000 jobs within the space of two years, the Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) warned.

Larry Broderick, general secretary of the association, warned that 4,000 jobs are at risk over the next six months in addition to the 6,000 that the industry has lost in the last 18 months.

The warning came as credit card company MBNA announced it is to cut 66 posts from its Irish workforce in Co Leitrim in the coming weeks.

MBNA, a division of Bank of America, employs 1,700 people in Ireland. Of this, 1,000 are employed in its MBNA card services division.

The redundancies are being brought in on a compulsory basis.

A spokeswoman for the firm said the credit card company had entered into a 30-day discussion period with employees. However, she could not confirm if there would be any further redundancies.

The company said it remains committed to the Irish market.

“We still are one of the largest credit card companies in Ireland,” the spokeswoman said. “We believe we’re a strong competitor in the Irish market.”

Mr Broderick said that he envisages the number of job losses at AIB to be “much larger” than the 750 redundancies announced by Bank of Ireland last month. He urged AIB not to divest its First Trust and British operations.

Mr Broderick said he is “comfortable” that the 750 job cuts announced by Bank of Ireland constitute the full extent of compulsory redundancies at the bank. He said that the association is in negotiations with the country’s main institutions as well as the Government on the issue of restructuring and as a result has a “good assessment of where the industry is at”.

Mr Broderick urged the Government to insist on the redeployment of bank staff to state agencies and institutions that are in need of staff.

Fine Gael Roscommon-South Leitrim TD Frank Feighan described the MBNA job losses as a “devastating blow” for the area. He called on the IDA to make every effort to find alternative employment for those who lose their jobs.