Fears banking job cuts will eventually soar to 12,000

It is now feared banking jobs cuts will soar to as many as 12,000 since the start of the financial crisis.

Unions representing rank-and-file bank staff have warned the 6,000 lay-offs from around the time of the state banking guarantee in September 2008 will likely double over the coming few years.

Seamus Sheils, spokesman for the Irish Banking Officials Association, said lower paid workers in the industry felt they were being sacrificed while those who caused the collapse continued to live a life of luxury.

Over the past three and a half years, and including yesterday’s announcement of 2,500 lay-offs at AIB, there have been more than 10,000 redundancies announced across the financial sector, with a further 1,000 job cuts expected at the Irish Bank Resolution Corp, formerly Anglo Irish Bank.

Banking job losses include:

* More than 3,000 staff at AIB and Bank of Ireland, who were let go from temporary contracts or retired or resigned but were not replaced.

* 1,000 job losses at Ulster Bank in 2009, along with a further 950 announced earlier this year in January.

* 750 redundancies at Bank of Scotland (Ireland) when it closed its Halifax branch network in the Irish Republic in 2010.

* 150 from National Irish Bank the same year.

* Between 600 and 700 jobs gone from Anglo Irish Bank, Irish Nationwide and Permanent TSB.

* Some 320 jobs already gone from an agreed 750 lay-offs at Bank of Ireland.

There were further job losses with the closure of smaller operations, such as PostBank — a partnership between An Post and French bank BNP Paribas — two years ago.