Germany's HypoVereinsbank to cut 800 jobs

FRANKFURT, Germany
(March 6, 2001 9:09 a.m. EST ) - HypoVereinsbank, Germany's second-largest bank, said Tuesday it will close up to 165 branch offices and slash roughly 800 jobs as part of a massive restructuring program.

The cuts, affecting between 10 percent and 15 percent of the company's 1,100 corner banks and 4 percent of its work force, will be phased in over the next year, the bank said in a statement.

The 800 job losses, of a total of 20,000 jobs at HypoVereinsbank in Germany, will hit the company's private banking and business client services, the bank said.

The closures and layoffs are part of a restructuring plan that will cost about 20 million euros ($18.4 million) this year. Expected annual savings will be 60 million euros ($55.2 million) from 2003 onward, the bank said.

The bank said the closures and layoffs are a consequence of customer acceptance of the bank's telephone and online services.

"Customers want quick routine service without long waits, and also after closing time on weekends and holidays," HypoVereinsbank said, adding that it plans to build up its telephone and online banking operations and create customer service centers that provide investment and real estate advice.

The company will invest 220 million euros ($202 million) in expanding those services this year.

The number of clients using the bank's existing telephone service rose 18 percent to 365,000 last year, while the number using online banking more than doubled to 1.5 million, the bank said.

HypoVereinsbank forecast that roughly half its customers will conduct their everyday banking over telephones or the Internet by 2005.

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