Banks all over Europe have announced the restructuring of their networks, with job cuts and branch closures as a result, highlighting the growing use of digital banking. Customers are now ready to adopt new practices, such as going to a multi-brand local center to carry out certain transactions or meet with an advisor. We take a closer look at this accelerating trend.
Merger of Société Générale and Crédit du Nord
The red and black bank recently confirmed the implementation of a merger project with its subsidiary Crédit du Nord. The group is thus aiming for a net cost base reduction of almost 450 million euros in 2025 compared with 2019, a December 7, 2020 press release states. This project, a major one in the banking sector, should be operational from the first half of 2023.
In concrete terms, the merger between the banks will have far-reaching consequences. By the end of 2025, the number of Société Générale and Crédit du Nord branches is set to fall from 2,100 to 1,500. The group has nevertheless undertaken to ensure that there will be no redundancies or forced departures.
Santander plans to cut 4,000 jobs in Spain
Spain's leading bank, Banco Santander, announced in November that it planned to cut almost 4,000 jobs in Spain, and that some 1,000 positions would be "reorganized internally" to cope with the growth in online services, a trend that has accelerated with the pandemic. Santander has also suffered greatly from the impact of the health crisis, with a net loss of 9 billion euros in the first nine months of the year.
As a reminder, the group had already cut more than 3,200 jobs in 2019 as part of a restructuring linked to the absorption of Banco Popular two years earlier.
Dutch cooperative bank Rabobank to close half of its branches
In the Netherlands, Rabobank is redesigning its branch network. The bank has confirmed that it will retain only 100 to 150 of its current 330 branches. It is thus following the same path taken by its competitor ING last July.
Like Rabobank, the Dutch group ABN Amro has announced the elimination of 2,700 jobs by 2024, weakened by the erosion of its profitability. In the 1st quarter, the bank posted losses of 400 million euros, affected by the low-rate environment.
Sweden's Handelsbanken plans to cut more than a thousand jobs
Handelsbanken has taken strong action, announcing the closure of half its branches from 2021 and the elimination of a thousand jobs. However, the Swedish bank does not cite the pandemic as the main factor justifying this decision.
As a result, bank branch closures and job cuts are multiplying across Europe. The Covid-19 crisis is weighing heavily on a sector that was already weakened before the arrival of the pandemic.