Sampo Bank is looking to cut 400 staff from its retail and telephone banking operations due to the widespread uptake of Internet banking in Finland.
The bank is looking to reduce costs by EUR15-20 million annually through a programme of voluntary redunancies and early retirement. Sampo says that it does not expect the rationalisation process to lead to redundancies.
The Finnish bank says it is responding to the "enormous changes" in consumer behaviour as customers increasingly turn to the Internet and away from the branch and telephone to perform their basic banking transactions.
The number of customers in Sampo's Web Bank has nearly tripled in the last five years and 97% of the banking transactions of retail customers are nowadays performed away from the counter.
As a result, customer service in branches has changed to an advisory role, says the bank, while the number of traditional cash services has reduced significantly.
Update Staff at the bank returned to work Thursday after a two-day walk out by staff in protest at the proposals closed many of the bank's branches.