Sabadell seeks to cut 13% of the workforce in Spain – union

MADRID, Sept. 2 (Reuters) – Sabadell (SABE.MC) wants to cut 1,900 jobs in Spain, or around 13% of the workforce in its home market, a union negotiating with the bank said on Thursday over plans to reduce costs and increase money.

Such a reduction would be Sabadell’s second in less than a year after recently cutting 1,817 jobs in Spain, where it employs a total of 14,648 people.

Union Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) said it saw no reason for another round of layoffs in Sabadell, given “no economic, technical, productive or organizational cause”.

Sabadell declined to comment.

Spanish and European banks are trying to adapt to the evolution of customers towards online banking services and to reduce their costs, either on their own or through reconciliations, as their overall profitability is also affected by lowest interest rate.

Based on the results of previous negotiations, the actual number of job cuts may ultimately be lower. Read more

The source told Reuters that 85% of the proposed staff cuts would be mostly in Sabadell’s retail network. He also added that the bank expects to reach an agreement with the unions by the end of October.

In May, Sabadell said he expected additional cost savings and revenue growth from a push into business and consumer lending in Spain to support profitability as part of his new plan. three-year strategy.

The bank’s return on equity (ROE), a measure of a bank’s profitability, was 3.10% at the end of June against an estimated cost of capital currently above 9%.

Sabadell shares lost 1.45% to 0.61 euro at 1401 GMT.

The bank’s failure to merge with its biggest rival BBVA (BBVA.MC) in November increased pressure to pursue a more aggressive cost-cutting strategy, with investors worried about its ability to single-handedly manage a expected increase in bad debts.

Staff at Spanish banks recently staged protests against the layoff plans.

BBVA (BBVA.MC) and Caixabank (CABK.MC) recently agreed with the unions to cut 2,935 and 6,452 employees respectively. Read more

Report by Jesús Aguado; Editing by David Goodman and Alexander Smith

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