Unicredit has reached an agreement with Italian trade unions to cut 3900 jobs as part of a sweeping three-year plan to transform its business.
The redundancy programme in Italy consists of a voluntary pre-retirement plan, as part of a move by the bank to hire younger, more digitially-minded staff. The bank says it is committed to hire an additional 1300 staff "to ensure a positive generational turnover" over the next three years.
The distressed bank has already said it will eliminate 6500 jobs on top of previously announced cuts, bringing the total number of losses to 14000 by 2019, resulting in savings of EUR1.1 billion.
Meanwhile, hundreds of branches are being closed and EUR1.6 billion is being pumped into IT investments, including "digitalisation activities" and core system updates designed to smooth the transition to online and mobile-centric services.
These moves are designed to generate EUR1.7 billion net annual recurring cost savings from 2019, helping the lender make a EUR4.7 billion net profit despite weak revenue growth.