110 redundancies at Ulster Bank

The 110 job losses announced by Ulster Bank yesterday were part of the 950 announced in 2012 in a restructuring of its operations, according to a bank spokesperson.

The jobs are mostly being cut from its mortgage centre in Dublin. However, it will create 30 positions for ‘field agents’ who will be responsible for liaising directly with customers in difficulty.

“Ulster Bank continues to implement the agreed changes to our operating model and has today communicated some changes to our staff in the retail problem debt management unit,” the bank said. The bank declined to say how many of the planned 950 redundancies have now been made.

“The staff who work in the retail problem debt management unit are involved in mortgage arrears negotiation. We are concerned that units based overseas may not be as attentive or understanding of the needs of customers experiencing significant difficulties with their mortgages,” said Larry Broderick, general secretary of the finance union IBOA.

But an Ulster Bank spokesperson said for the last two years, the Edinburgh centre has been dealing with Irish customers in arrears.