CLYDESDALE Bank staff are bracing themselves for hundreds of job losses after its parent company announced a major strategic review.
Trade union Unite has called on the Glasgow-based institution to clarify urgently its jobs plans as chief executive David Thorburn signalled last night the review would have a major impact on workforce numbers.
He said returns at the bank are "unacceptable" because of rising costs and a sudden increase in bad debts from property loans as the economy has slipped backwards.
Asked if the review could lead to job cuts at Clydesdale and its sister Yorkshire Bank, Mr Thorburn said: "A significant proportion of our cost base is represented by employees. You cannot get into a review of this nature without having an impact there."
Clydesdale, which is owned by National Australia Bank (NAB), employs 4200 people in Scotland, including more than 2500 in Glasgow and Clydebank.
David Fleming, national officer at Unite, said: "Unite has grave concerns about the scale of the review and over the future commitment of NAB within the UK.
"We have opened up dialogue with management in order to get urgent clarification as to the possible implications for the staff."
It comes after the bank announced plans to axe 279 jobs before Christmas.
Banking expert Rob Webb, of Glasgow Caledonian University, said: "Banks have been making less profit and they need to cut their costs. One way is to lay off people and cut branches."
Dr Webb added: "As cost-cutting and staff redundancies are on the table, I wouldn't rule them out."
While Mr Thorburn insisted "nothing is off the table" in the review, he emphasised the strength of its retail banking network, implying wide-scale branch closures are unlikely.
NAB attributed its decision to review its UK business in part to the impact of Government spending cuts on the British economy, which shrank in the last three months of 2011.
Chief executive Cameron Clyne said: "It is clear the UK economy is likely to experience a much longer period of subdued growth, with the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone and the continuing austerity programme by the UK Government."
This was seized upon by the SNP, which blamed Westminster public sector cut-backs for damaging investment north of the Border.
SNP Treasury spokesman Stewart Hosie said: "NAB's decision underlines the damaging uncertainty that the UK Government's austerity programme is causing for business and investment."
He added: "Clydesdale Bank workers need urgent assurances that their positions are safe."
Meanwhile, Lloyds Banking Group, owner of Bank of Scotland, confirmed 20 jobs will go in Scotland as it announced plans to cut another 1000 jobs UK-wide.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article