Bank giant swings axe again

Published on Wednesday 9 November 2005 11:51

CLYDESDALE Bank owner National Australia Bank is to shed further jobs despite announcing a 30 per cent increase in full-year net profits.

Australia's biggest bank said the economies in which it operated - Britain, Australia and New Zealand - were slowing moderately and it would cut 462 more jobs on top of the 4200 announced earlier this year as part of a recovery plan.

Annual net profits jumped 30 per cent to about 1.74 billion after restructuring charges and the sale of its Irish banks.

NAB posted a better-than-expected 2.6 per cent rise in second-half earnings per share on

buoyant lending, but said it expected higher costs and a tough outlook for the future.

In total, the group, which also owns the Yorkshire Bank, is cutting more than ten per cent of its workforce over two years as part of a plan designed to improve competitiveness, lift earnings and lower costs after several profit warnings and a currency trading scandal last year.

Scots-born chief executive John Stewart said: "This will increase the challenge of growing our business in each region."

Earlier this month, the Clydesdale announced plans to shut 30 Scottish branches, including outlets at Morningside Road, Corstorphine, Penicuik and North Berwick. The parent group had already announced the closure of about a fifth of its Clydesdale and Yorkshire branches.

Consumer spending had slowed in Britain where the labour market had also softened, the bank said.