Nordea to lay off staff as customers migrate to the Net

Nordea - which has signed up to 3.5 million customers across the Nordic countries for its Internet banking service - says the amount of 'traditional bank work' has considerably decreased as customers conduct routine transactions and queries online.

Markku Pohjola, deputy group CEO of Nordea, says: "Traditional bank work has changed and there is not an adequate amount of work for everyone. In cooperation with the personnel representatives, we have for the past six weeks tried to find measures to reduce the need for lay-offs. These include part-time work, additional holiday and study leave. However, we are not able to completely avoid lay-offs."

The bank's target is for a near 10% reduction in staff numbers in Finland, from 8700 to 8000 personnel by year's end. The bank expects at least 300 jobs to disappear through natural wastage over the coming year, with an additional 300 jobs slated for compulsory redundancy.

Nordea's move follows the example of Finnish bank Sampo, which recently reached agreement with staff for the net reduction of 346 jobs from its retail and telephone banking operations in response to customer migration to Internet and automated channels.