Unicredit to slash 14,000 jobs as part of mammoth restructuring of Italy’s largest bank
Italy's largest lender is to cull 14,000 jobs by 2019 as part of a huge turnaround plan.
Announcing the cuts alongside a €13bn (£10.9bn) equity raise and flogging €17.7bn on non-core assets, Unicredit said the job cuts would save the firm €1.1bn.
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Chief exec Jean Pierre Mustier said the job cuts and the turnaround plan represented "decisive actions… to improve and support recurring future profitability".
Today's announcement represents a 6,500 increase in the number of jobs to be binned by the end of 2019, having previously announced job cuts as part of the bank's "Transform 2019" plan.
in addition, the bank hopes to reduce other operating costs by €600m, meaning total annual cost savings of €1.7bn. The hope is that the bank will be able to run with a cost base of €10.6bn in 2019, compared with the €12.2bn in 2015.
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Mustier has his eyes firmly set on putting the bank on a firmer financial footing. His aim is to enable to the bank to start paying a dividend to shareholders by 2019. He wants Unicredit "to become one of Europe's most attractive banks… we shall capture opportunities whilst keeping a tight rein on risk, execution and costs".
The equity raise was underwritten by a raft of international lenders and the centrepoint of the Transform 2019 plan that draws on the support of the international financial community.