ACC to lay off 200 and shut 16 branches

THE likelihood of difficult times ahead is forcing ACC Bank to cut 200 jobs and close 16 branches across the country.

The lender, which is owned by Dutch financial firm, Rabobank, is blaming the global financial crisis, sharp deterioration in the Irish economy and the collapse of the local property market for the cost-saving measures.

Earlier this year ACC reported an after-tax loss of €244 million – down from a post-tax profit of €39.9m for the previous year. There was also a slight decline to €6.5bn in the value of loans to customers.

ACC’s main customer base consists of the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) and agriculture sectors, but it also offers wealth management services to clients.

The branches will close between October and next April and ACC also plans to “restructure other roles”.

Chief executive Rob Hartog said: “We are in volatile times with global financial systems in a period of radical change, and the broader Irish economy unlikely to recover for at least another two years.

“These measures reflect the need to prioritise where we use our skilled resources at this time, and our anticipation that 2009/2010 will continue to be difficult.”

The announcement of the job losses, which will occur at the bank’s head office in Dublin and across its branch network, was made to employees yesterday.

The branches which will close are Athlone, Ballina, Castlebar, Cavan, Clonmel, Ennis, Dungarvan, Letterkenny, Monaghan, Navan, Nenagh, Roscommon, Tralee, Tuam, Tullamore, and Wexford.

Employees are expected to begin departing from July.

SIPTU has expressed “grave concern” over ACC’s decision to cut jobs.

SIPTU branch organiser, Owen Reidy said: “We will be meeting with management again in the near future to commence discussions. We will be seeking to minimise the number of redundancies and to ensure that any redundancies that do take place are voluntary.”

ACC said it will establish an Employee Consultation Forum for staff who are not members of a union.

It said its customers will continue to be able to transact with ACC through one of the nine open branches, by telephone and post, or through one of its business relationship managers who will be available to meet customers.