The news: Banco Santander, Spain’s biggest bank and one of the largest in Europe and Latin America, will shed about 1,425 jobs in the UK this year as part of an ongoing plan to cut costs and streamline operations through automation, Reuters and Bloomberg reported citing CEO Hector Grisi.
The numbers: The reductions could increase based on customer support needs, Grisi told a press conference on Tuesday. The cuts began roughly two weeks ago, affecting mainly the bank’s UK headquarters, according to a Bloomberg report.
The bank posted
€3.25 billion ($3.51 billion) in net income for the September quarter, surpassing analyst forecasts. But the bank’s UK arm is facing challenges with a dip in interest and fee income.
On Monday, the unit said it would postpone its own earnings release to assess the impact of a court ruling that recently ordered motor finance brokers to inform customers fully about commissions when taking out car loans.
But the group earnings release showed net profit in Britain fell 19% year-on-year in the third quarter, while lending income was down 7%, according to Reuters.
Santander’s UK workforce numbered 21,812 as of September, a decrease of 392 in the past year.
What did they say: “It could affect additional” jobs, Grisi said in a press conference on Tuesday. “It will depend how many people we need for customer relations et cetera.”